There's More than One Type of Bell
by Katie.Kellog
Summary: Molly isn't the best rancher on Castanet, and she had a knack for making a fool out of herself on a daily basis.  But how can this bumbling, sarcastic new rancher prove to the resisdent Wizard that she isn't just another ignorant human?  MollyXWizard - AP
1. Chapter 1: A Rocky Start

**I'm back from my year long hiatus. For those of you that have read my other fanfics, I may or may not be continuing my HTTYD fics…I'm still internally debating it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then just enjoy the fic!**

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><p><strong>Chapter One: A Rocky Start<strong>

"I'm just curious," the captain of the ship said, taking the pipe out of his mouth and leaning on the railing, "What makes a young person like you want to come all the way out to Castanet? It isn't every day the Island gets new residents." He tipped his hat to the girl standing not far away, on the bow of the ship. She'd been mostly quiet for the three hour trip across what seemed to be an endless expanse of water, but now turned her brown eyes to the man addressing her and shrugged.

"I never really liked city life," she said, scanning the horizon for the little island the captain assured she would see. "Now that I'm 18, I decided I needed a new start, in a new town, you know? Somewhere quieter, where you can really breath." The captain smiled, and puffed on the pipe again.

"Well, Castanet is definitely quiet," he laughed, turning back to the boat's cabin. "Oh, by the way, what did you say your name was again?"

"Molly," the girl answered, patting down the fly-away hairs on her head. She was so used to having long hair, that it surprised her sometimes to reach up and find that her curly locks were now all gone. She'd told herself she needed to cut her hair short before she left; she wouldn't have time to fix her hair if she was going to be a rancher! But now, she wasn't so sure. She doubted she'd ever get used to such short hair!

"I'm Pascal. I hope you like Castanet, Molly." Pascal pointed over Molly's shoulder, and when she turned to look, was stunned to see the Island coming up fast. It was smaller than she'd imagined, but smaller wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Smaller just meant…cozier. And hopefully friendlier!

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><p>Town Hall is just up that staircase," Pascal said, indicating the direction Molly needed to travel in. "The Mayor should be there, he'll tell you what's what. Well," she looked over the shoulder at Pascal as he smiled and waved. "Perhaps I'll see you around. I sincerely hope you like it here," As he started to walk away, Molly thought she heard him say: "Because God knows you'd be the first one." Shaking her head to clear that thought, she turned back to the staircase which Pascal had indicated, and then realized: Harmonica town was all staircases. She had no idea which one he'd meant for her to take! There were three right in front of her, and each one branched off into several more! How would she ever learn to find her way around?<p>

"Don't be stupid, Molly," she told herself, "Just pick one and climb it. You'll find Town Hall eventually." Nodding at her resolve, she started climbing the closest staircase, and when she reached the top, crossed a few bridges. Each building she passed had a sign over the door, though none of them read 'Town Hall'. Another staircase, and Molly was feeling hopeless. "I will NEVER find my way out of this maze!" she mumbled, reaching the top of yet another staircase, and coming face to face with a large white house, whose sigh read 'Wizard's House.'

'_Wizard?'_ she thought to herself, cocking her head to the side. '_What a weird town. Could a Wizard really live here?'_ Shrugging and figuring, wizard or not, if someone was home, they probably knew the way to Town Hall, she stepped forward and knocked on the door. A few moments passed, and no one answered. Another knock, and another minute, and still no answer. It was getting late, and the sun would be setting soon, and seeing as Molly didn't relish the thought of sleeping outside in an unfamiliar town, she tried the doorknob of the door, and found that the house was unlocked. '_I hope the wizard doesn't mind me letting myself in,'_ she thought, stepping through the doorway into the dimly lit house.

Books were scattered here and there, most very old and worn-looking. Star maps littered the walls, and several chalk drawings of the night sky decorated the floor-boards. A table sat in the middle of the room, and on top sat a cloudy looking crystal ball. But besides the general clutter, there seemed to be no one home.

"Hello?" Molly called, tip-toeing into the room. "Um, is anyone here? I could use some directions…"

"Who are you?" the girl was startled and nearly jumped right out of her shoes when a voice sounded behind her. Spinning around, she saw a cloaked figure descending a set of stairs on the far side of the room which she hadn't noticed. She couldn't make out the man's features in the dim light, but his startlingly white hair was visible in the low lighting, as were her his eyes; curiously enough, one was yellow, and the other green. "What are you doing in my house?" His tone was calm, not angry, as Molly would have expected someone's voice to be upon finding a stranger creeping around their house.

"Uh, I'm sorry about letting myself in," she started, one corner of her mouth pulling up in a pathetic attempt at a smile, "But no one answered the door, and I…uh, well, I could really use some help." It was a horrible way to make a first impression, she thought, breaking into someone's house and then asking for help. But if she ended up staying here on Castanet, she swore to herself she'd make it up to this man.

"And…?" the man prompted, and he finally stepped into a shaft of light thrown by a window on the far left wall. Molly didn't quite understand what he was asking, and her answer was further stalled by her apparent awe and/or curiosity at this man, the Wizard's appearance. Dark skin and heterochromatic eyes weren't the only unusual feature about him; what looked like tattoos were stenciled onto the skin under his right eye, and his white hair was cut short, save for a braid that twisted down next to his left temple. He wasn't as old as the color of his hair would make you think; in fact, he looked quite young, though the expression he wore gave Molly the feeling he was far wiser (and far more irritated) than anyone her age would be.

"And…what?" she asked, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear self consciously. The Wizard heaved a sigh and strolled over to the crystal ball that sat on the table in the middle of the room.

"And, what is it you need help with?" he replied, setting both hands on the table and looking briefly into the crystal.

"Oh, um…I just need to know where the Mayor's Office is." The way the Wizard had been looking into the crystal ball made Molly feel that he'd been expecting her to say something outrageous, like she needed help slaying a dragon or something, and when she'd finally asked for directions, the way he stared at her, as if to say 'That's all?' only goaded that assumption.

"Follow the road to the left of the front door and take a right. It's at the bottom of the hill; I'm sure you won't be able to miss it." Seating himself at the table and interlacing his fingers, he continued to gaze at the crystal, and for a moment, Molly didn't move. It wasn't until he the Wizard looked back up and said "Well? Are you leaving, or are you going to wait until you forget the directions and require my assistance again?" did she finally catch the hint and skitter towards the door.

"Right!" she said, rubbing the back of her neck, "Right, thanks for your help!" Wizard didn't look up as she closed the door behind her and followed the path down to Town Hall. Her face was burning red from embarrassment as she entered the tiny office and spied the portly Mayor Hamilton. "Um, hello? Mayor Hamilton?"

"Hmmm? What's that? Oh!" The squat fellow turned and smiled as Caitlin walked in, clapping his hands together. "You're the new rancher, aren't you! Welcome to Castanet!" he exclaimed, shuffling out from behind his desk. "My, my! You're much younger than I thought you'd be! And you're face is so red! Did you run all the way here from the docks?


	2. Chapter 2: Friends, Enemies and Bears

**Chapter Two is up, and super speedy to boot! I just have an ungodly amount of time on my hands! So we're introduced in this chapter, with the notion that Molly has (A) met many of the residents already, (B) talked with the Harvest Goddess already and met up with Finn and (C) struck up a friendship with Julius. I sincerely love Julius, but can never bring myself to marry him (due to the fact that he looks more womanly than the character you play TT^TT) So he'll have to settle with being the best friend!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Friends, Frenemies, Bears and Late Husbands.<strong>

"I swear to the Harvest Goddess it gets easier," Julius said, leaning both elbows on the counter of the refinery's main office and resting his chin in his hands. Molly let out a heavy sigh as she flopped back onto the red velvet couch and traced little circles on her temples, trying to ease the headache she'd developed over the course of the long day she'd just endured. Not only had she been bombarded with an array of very…unique and somewhat depressing villagers, all of whom she was expected to remember their names, but she'd also been given the impossible task of saving the island from a lady who Molly was almost positive was a figment of her imagination. And to add insult to injury, an annoyingly cute little…thing kept following her around, reminding her to find these 'Bells' and 'Sprites' and such, and no one else seemed to notice him. Toss in the fact that her house was basically a rundown little shack out in the middle of the boonies, and that just made for the worst day Molly had ever had to live through.

"How do you do it, Julius?" Molly groaned, opening one eye to look at the man behind the counter. "How do you walk all the way from flute fields to the Mines EVERY single day? How are you EVER on time?" Julius just laughed and flicked a strand of purple streaked hair out of his face.

"I already wake up super early to fix my clothes and hair," he replied, "so it's not hard. It is rather depressing to wake up every morning, though, when the moon is still out." Molly didn't really know why she liked Julius; perhaps it was the fact that, no matter how stupid Molly made herself look, he found a way to put a positive spin on it. Or maybe it was just the fact that he seemed like the only person she'd met so far her own age that would put up with her. The boy who cooked and waited tables at the bar and Inn would have nothing to do with her, the Wizard likely thought she was a complete and total spaz, the two girls who worked at the Tailor's shop were either too prissy or far too shy to even acknowledge her presence, and the two kids at the Fishery were far too interested in fish to even notice her. Julius had been the first person on this Goddess-forsaken island to spare a kind word to her, and perhaps it was a little pathetic, but she wasn't going to waste the one potential friend on the Island just because he was a little….eccentric. Sure, he had an overly developed fashion sense than was normal for a man, but he was funny, and tolerated Molly, so she was willing to befriend him. Besides, when he was around to spin a positive side to her spazziness, the neighbors weren't so freaked out by their bumbling new neighbor.

"So, you work here all alone?" she asked, sitting up a little straighter and taking a look around the shop. It was elegantly decorated, though the showcases were empty, and little indents in the velvet lining of the glass cases were the only evidence that gems had once been on display. Julius shrugged and the smile he wore started to slip.

"Well, 'work' is a relative term. I sweep and keep the place tidy; but there isn't much else for me to do. The mines are running dry these days, so there aren't any gems for me to refine, not that I know how to do that anyway," he looked drearily to a picture hanging on the wall not far away. "My boss, the lady in that picture, hasn't showed up for work in months. She's the only one who can refine ores and gems; I just help make accessories. Since she's not here, I can't do my job since I can't take raw wonderfuls and turn them into anything even remotely wearable. But like I said, even if she was here, there'd be no gems to refine anyway." He shrugged again and went back to leaning on the desk. "But, so is life."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said, her brows knitting together. "Why hasn't your boss shown up for work?"

"Her husband died," Julius answered again, suddenly very interested in the wood grain of the mahogany desk. Molly was instantly sorry she'd asked, and her cheeks glowed a ghastly shade of red. The little thing, what was he? A sprite? The sprite who called himself Finn piped up then, floating just in front of Molly's face.

"How sad!" he chirped, his tiny child's face scrunching up. "It's so sad when humans die!" Molly was still uneasy about this whole sprite business, and simply brushed Finn away, ignoring his squeaks of protest. Looking back to Julius, Molly stood and put her hands on her hips.

"Where's your boss now?" she asked, studying the woman in the picture. She would need to remember that face. Julius raised an eyebrow, and the ghost of a smile returned to his face.

"You're a cheeky girl," Julius said, shaking his head and chuckling. "She spends most of her time at the church on the far side of Harmonica town, or else the graveyard by the old mine-cart shaft. And while I appreciate what I think you're going to do, it will be a fruitless effort; Ms. Mira is in a state of perpetual grief. She won't listen to anyone." Molly smirked at Julius, and walked towards the door.

"We'll see," she said, closing the door behind her. The day was blustery and cold, though the sun shone brightly, and as Molly started her long walk down the mountain side towards Harmonica town, she as met by a strange sound. It was a sort of snuffling noise, like a hound dog following a scent trail, or a pig rooting for tubers in the mud. Looking around, Molly could see neither a dog nor a pig, but what she did see was a round, fluffy little animal, and upon further inspection, came to the conclusion that the little fluff ball was a baby bear. "Hello there," she cooed, holding out a hand. Coming from the big city, Molly had rarely ever even seen large dogs, but here on Castanet she'd already seen more animals in three days than she'd seen in the eighteen years of her childhood. The tiny bear tottered towards her on chubby legs and stretched it's neck up to sniff at her hand, and just as Molly's guard went down, the very large and very threatening image of the mother bear strode into view. A growl building in the back of it's throat, it stomped over to the girl, intending to protect it's baby, and giving Molly the fright of her life. Letting out an ear piercing yelp, she skittered away from the wild animals, just in time to be seen by a boy leaning up against the side of the carpenter's shop.

"Well, well, Dr. Doolittle," she boy called as Molly attempted to smooth her skirt and compose herself (once she was a safe distance away from the bears, of course). "I see we're already making friends of the local bears. Mrs. Bear seems to be taking a real shine to you!" He snickered at his own lame attempt at a joke, while Molly just rolled her eyes. As she strode past him without acknowledging him, he quite the laughter and went after her. "Hey, I haven't seen you around here before. You new or something?"

"I've been here for three days," she retorted, barely looking at the blue-haired boy. His sharp features were composed in a somewhat confused expression as he wracked his brain for any memories of this strange girl.

"Nope, I'm pulling a blank." He said, shrugging and following her as she made her way across the bridge. "So, humor me; what's your name?"

"Molly." Just like she didn't know why she liked Julius, she didn't really know why she disliked this boy. Sure, he'd made fun of her, but most people did. He was just innately annoyingly arrogant, she could feel it, and arrogance was something she couldn't stand.

"That's a weird name," he said, scratching his head. "Well, I'm Luke. If you ever need an upgrade on your house, you should come talk to me. I'm the carpenter's son, and the best carpenter around, I can guarantee it!" he flashed a toothy grin at her, which she didn't bother to reciprocate, and continued to grin like an idiot as she walked on. Eventually he turned back, and Molly was finally able to continue her long walk in relative peace.

"He was odd," Finn said, hovering by her shoulder. "Everyone here is odd. Like that lady you were talking to in the refinery."

"Julius isn't a lady," Molly shot back, and inwardly thought she must have looked crazy to anyone who might be passing by; since no one else seemed to be able to see Finn, it would just look as if she were talking to herself. But Finn didn't mind her sharp reply; he just seemed genuinely happy to finally be formally acknowledged by Molly.

"Hey, you finally talked to me!" he sang, flying around her head in circles. "Yay! You talked to me! Hurray!"

"Well, I won't be talking to you often if you keep that up!" she snapped, which caused Finn to halt. "And I can't talk to you in public; people will think I'm crazy."

"Oh, that's right, other people can't see me. Right! I will now be entering silent mode!" He saluted Molly as she entered the town, careful to read the street signs this time so she wouldn't get lost and end up back at Wizard's house. That was the LAST thing she needed. But the church was relatively easy to find, and as she walked in, she was greeted by an extravagantly decorated interior, a young looking pastor, and a middle-aged woman bowing her head while sitting at one of the pews. The pastor dipped his head in greeting as Molly approached the pulpit, and closed the book he was reading, assumedly the Bible.

"Greetings," he said in a hushed tone. "You must be the new rancher Mayor Hamilton was telling me about. I'm Father Perry." He extended a hand for Molly to shake, which she did.

"Hello, Father Perry," she said pleasantly. "My name's Molly, it's very nice to meet you."

"So, what brings you here today, Molly?" Perry asked. Molly looked to the woman still sitting in the paws.

"I was actually looking for a woman named Ms. Mira…Is that here?" she motioned to the woman, and Perry nodded solemnly.

"Yes it is. She's always here. Grieving for her late husband." He looked from Mira, to Molly and back again, and then said, in nothing more than a whisper: "If you're here to cheer her up, I say, good luck to you. She could do with a little sunshine, and I feel that she spends much too much time here. She needs to get out, and experience all that life has to offer." Molly nodded her head in agreement, and went to sit by the woman.

Mira looked up at Molly with her large, sorrow-filled eyes, and Molly knew she'd have a large task of cheering this woman up. But she'd have to try.

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><p>"I'm, quite honestly amazed!" Julius gushed, dragging Molly onto the front porch by her elbow. "You really are something! For months, I've been trying to persuade Mira to come back to work, and she's never once listened! And then you come along, and coerce her back in a single day? You are one amazing girl!" Molly beamed at Julius as both friends peered through the open window. Mira was busying herself inside, rearranging things and dusting up, mumbling this and that to herself. She didn't seem as miserable as when Molly had first found her, and in fact, a slight smile played on her face. Perhaps Mira wasn't happy, but Molly felt that, for the first time in a long while, Mira wasn't completely consumed in grief over her husband's death.<p>

"She just needed someone to talk to," she said, shrugging. "Another girl, you know? I've never had anyone in my family die, but…I think I was able to connect better with her, just because we're both female, you know?"

"I won't argue what works," Julius said, walking back towards the door. "But I will say this: once we get some decent gemstones in here, I know a certain someone who I owe an emerald pendant to!" And with a wink, he disappeared into the shop.

"You did a good thing!" Finn squeaked, patting Molly's cheek. "I think Mira will be much happier working than moping around the church."

"You know what, Finn?" Molly asked, walked back towards her house. "I think so too."


	3. Chapter 3: The Witch and The Wizard

**Hmmm. I'm realizing that I'm making the Wizard far more sarcastic and rude than he actually is in the game. Well, oh well. This is kind of how I thought he'd act towards my stupidity in the game. He can't always be cool and collected!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Three: The Witch and the Wizard<strong>

"I hate this. I hate this so much." Molly ran a hand through her short, flippy hair and let out a sigh.

"Aw, C'mon!" Finn squeaked, bobbing in the air by her shoulder. "It's not gonna be so bad! It can't be any worse than having to ring the blue bell! At least you don't have to raise a duck or find a black pearl! All you have to do is talk to the Wizard!"

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about." She said, swallowing the lump in her throat as the two of them approached the Wizard's house. The summer sun was beating down on her head, and that, coupled with the memory of her last bumbling encounter with the Wizard was turning her cheeks an ungodly shade of red.

"Well, how else are we gonna find the witch? We need the Wizard's help!" Closing her eyes and rubbing her temples, Molly raised a slightly shaking fist and knocked on the Wizard's door. As she suspected, there was no answer, so, just like the first time they'd met, she went ahead and let herself in.

"Um…Hello?" she called, again greeted with a dark house. "Wizard? It's me again…you know, Molly? The new farmer?" Taking a few steps into the house, she could feel a tremor run down her spine. "I need your help…again."

"Of course you do. And I see you still have no qualms walking into a house when you have not been welcomed." Spinning around, Wizard was sitting at his desk by the wall, a book in one hand, a cup of what smelled like coffee in the other.

"Yeah, well…you need to start answering your door more often!" she replied, folding her arm across her chest. "I wouldn't have to let myself in if you'd just answer your door."

"I suppose you have a point." Setting his mug down, the Wizard stood and snapped his book shut. "So, what is it you need help with? Have you gotten lost again? Because I'm not here to act as your personal tour guide." Molly didn't know why this guy was always so sour, but it was starting to get on her nerves. She'd talked to him all of two times, and he was acting as if they were mortal enemies! Granted, she HAD basically snuck into his house both times, but still. There was almost no reason for him to be acting so rude.

"I was actually going to ask if you've seen the Witch around." She huffed, narrowing her eyes. "We heard she may have the green bell, but when we visited her house out in Fugue Forest, she was nowhere to be found."

"We?" Wizard's sour expression faltered, and for the smallest of seconds, his eyes glinted with curiosity. "Who is 'we'?" Realizing that he must not have known that she was helping the Harvest Goddess, Molly shrugged, and one side of her mouth tugged up in a smile.

"Oh, um…well, you see, when I say 'we', what I really mean is-"

"Do you mean that little sprite by your shoulder?" Molly looked to where the Wizard was pointing, only to see Finn cowering behind her right shoulder.

"You can see him?" she said coaxing the tiny sprite out from his hiding spot. "Yes, I do mean Finn. But how can you…I thought I was the only one who could see the sprites?" Wizard took a few steps closer and held out his hand, to which Finn floated to hesitantly.

"I'm not a human," he replied simply, inspecting the baby sprite. "I'm a magic caster, and can see all manner of mythical creature. Fascinating…I've never seen a sprite in this town before…" He let Finn float back to Molly and shook his head. "But that's irrelevant. You said you wanted to find the witch?" Molly nodded her head, and the Wizard went off to riffle through some of his papers.

"All we saw in her house was a big pink frog with a little hat…Do you think that had anything to do with her disappearance?" Wizard looked up then, his eyes slightly unfocused as he thought.

"A frog, you say….this is not good."

"What?"

"That frog was the witch."

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><p>"C'mon, Chickadee, I'm not asking much!" Finn let out a giggle as Molly flopped back against the wall of her barn, milker in one hand, jar of 'Good' milk in the other. "I'm really not asking much here, just some 'Perfect' milk! I brush you, I feed you, I let you and my duck out to graze! I feed you apples, for the Goddess' sake! How much longer are you gonna continue holding out on me for?" The black and white cow dubbed 'Chickadee' just stared at Molly with big, blank, brown eyes and let out a thundering "Moooo!" before going back to chewing her cud.<p>

"Give her time," Finn said, patting Molly's cheek as she stood and left the barn. "She'll come around. Hey, how's that corn comin' along?" Molly ran for the safety of her house as heavy raindrops splattered around her, and only answered once she was safe under cover.

"Okay, I guess," she said, ringing out her skirt. "It'll probably be ready to pick by tomorrow. I just hope there's some 'Good' corn in there for me to mill." The poor girl had spent the majority of her summer working her butt off to produce the ingredients for the Wizard's potion, so the witch could be returned to her natural form. She'd already received a hibiscus flower from Sampson, the man who worked at the Pineapple Inn on Toucan Island, for delivering Salena's Goodbye letter, and now just needed to mill some 'Good' cornmeal and churn some 'Perfect' butter. But these two were turning out to be the hardest ingredients to produce. Chickadee had been a gift from the owners of Horn Ranch, but she'd had to drain her savings to buy the butter maker, and it would be a full day's walk to the water mill to turn her corn into cornmeal.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Finn asked, as Molly began rummaging through her dresser. She pulled out a hat and coat, and then made her way to the door again.

"I've got to go to the mines," she said, hammer slung over her shoulder. "If I'm ever going to make enough money to upgrade my house, I've got to buckle down and start turning a profit. The corn and milk that I can't use for the potion help…but it's not enough. I'm going to go look for gems." The wind almost knocked her off her feet as she opened the door, and tiny Finn whimpered by her shoulder. "You don't have to come if you don't want to." She said.

"Are you kidding?" Finn squeaked, "And stay home all by myself? No way!" He flew into one of Molly's pockets and pulled his hat over his eyes. Molly just rolled her eyes and trudged up to the Garmon Mine District. It was tough going, but once they were inside the mine, she could shed her coat and let Finn float free again.

"Hey!" The voice that called out to Molly was somewhat recognizable, and as she turned, she could just make out the bright smile of Luke in the dim lamp-light. "It's you again, the new rancher…Molly, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," she said, noticing that Finn was bristling by her shoulder and scowling at Luke. She had to admit, she wasn't particularly fond of this boy, but Finn was being pretty unreasonable. She made a mental note to ask him about this later. "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing, just wondering what you're doin' all the way up in this district on such a horrible day."

"Mining." She said simply, leaning on her hammer. Luke laughed, somewhat nervously, and smiled.

"Uh, yeah, I should have guessed that…" for a minute, Molly was sure she'd seen his confident, egotistic personality falter slightly, but not a moment later did it return, and Luke was back to his braggy self. "Well, since I bet you'll never make it as far down as I've made it, here," he held something out to Molly, and when she inspected it, she found it was a bottle, labeled 'Bodigizer'. She shot him a questioning look. "It's like an energy drink. To make sure you don't faint or anything down in the mines. It would take weeks to find you if you collapsed from exhaustion!"

Molly didn't know if she should be grateful for the gift, or insulted that Luke assumed she was weak enough to need it, but regardless, she muttered a hurried 'Thanks' and scurried off towards the lower mine staircase. Watching her go, Luke waved and sported his over-confident, cocky smile.

"Alright…hope you find something good!" he called.

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><p>She didn't even bother to pause and knock this time; she knew the Wizard wouldn't answer the door anyway. Instead, she turned the knob and let herself in, as usual, to the Wizard's dark house. Wondering slightly why he liked to keep his house so dark, she walked straight in, all three ingredients to the potion in her arms.<p>

"You know, I was actually planning on answering the door this time," Wizard said, as he sat behind his crystal ball on the little table in the middle of the room. He looked up just in time to see Molly setting a hibiscus flower, a sack of 'Good' cornmeal and a package of 'Perfect' butter on the table across from him. His eyebrows raised as he looked from the pile of odd ingredients to the triumphant farmer and back. "You…actually did it." He finally said, standing.

"Finally," Molly said, "do you realize how hard it was to get these things? I had to buy, like, black-market corn seeds from Taylor! Marimba farm doesn't carry corn seeds this late in the season! And Chickadee is so tempermental in the hot weather, she would NOT let me milk her!" As she went on explaining the difficulties she had to go through to obtain these materials, Wizard scooped them all up and carried them over to a cauldron in the corner of the room. Dumping them in, along with a few other things, with Molly still oblivious, Wizard began reading from a big leather-bound book.

"It's done," he interrupted, cutting Molly off mid-word. He ladled the strange pink mixture into a bottle, and began striding towards the door. "Well, let's go. You said you needed to ask the Witch something, did you not?"

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><p>"Get out of here!" The shriek could be heard for miles, and Molly was powerless as she watched Wizard get thrown out of the Witch's hut. There was no reasoning with her; even though the Wizard had turned her back to normal, she still declared that she hated him, and booted him out the door. Molly was half expecting to be chucked out the window as the Witch turned back to her, but was greeted with a much friendlier face. "So, you said you wanted a bell?" she asked, sugar-coating her voice. Molly just nodded yes, and the witch began rummaging around in her things.<p>

"This is it!" Finn whispered. "We're going to get the green bell, and then we'll only need one more bell!" This had been, by far, the hardest bell to ring. The red bell had been a piece of cake, as was the yellow bell. The Blue bell had been rather difficult, but could not compare to the green bell.

"Here you are!" the witch sang, handing over the large green bell. Thanking the witch as they left, Molly could barely contain her excitement as she and Finn raced off to set the bell back on its pedestal in the Windmill.


	4. Chapter 4: Sarcasm doesn't win Friends

**What's this? The introduction of a possible love interest? Oh ho ho, interesting, veery interesting!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five: Sarcasm doesn't win you Friends<strong>

Molly didn't know why she was doing it. She could not tell you why she'd bought the coffee tree seedling from Taylor, and could not pin down a reason as to why she tirelessly tended the tempermental little seedling. And she couldn't say why she was currently standing over the big orange cooking pot she'd purchased from Barbara, stirring the thick, black coffee as it cooked. Perhaps she was doing it as thanks to the Wizard for creating the potion that allowed her to ring the green bell. Perhaps it was an apology for always barging into his house without being invited. Either way, all she knew was that the coffee she was stirring was finally done, and as she attempted to pour it into the thermos without it spilling all over her hands like last time, she shook her head and let out a humorless laugh.

"You're such a nice person," Finn said, looking down into the thermos and smiling his tiny sprite smile. "Wizard loves coffee, I'm sure he really appreciates this!"

"Yeah, well, he'd better," Molly said, though not as bitterly as one would think. She'd been seeing Wizard more often now that the whole nasty potion business was over, and while he was just as cynical and sarcastic as ever, he was not as rude as he'd initially come off as, and seemed like he was trying to be at least somewhat social when Molly came to visit.

The walk into Harmonica town was still rather time consuming, but Molly was getting used to it by now, and it was barely noon as she crossed the bridge and walked along the familiar cobblestone path up to the white house she knew to be Wizard's. Knocking once, just as a formality, she walked in and looked around.

"Hello," Wizard called from upstairs, not looking up from the books he was studying as Molly climbed the stairs.

"I brought you some coffee," she said, as she did every day, and was secretly delighted as the Wizard's eyes darted to the thermos in her hand. "What are you studying about today?" Wizard took the thermos and poured the still-warm coffee into one of the many hugs he had scattered around the upstairs landing. He took a sip of the black liquid before actually looking at Molly for the first time that day.

"The movement of stars," he said, holding a rather large book out for her to see. The pages were littered with words written in a language Molly couldn't read, but the pictures were obvious enough; they depicted several well-known constellations and how they moved across the night-sky.

"Oh, hey, it's Taurus," she said, pointing to the faint outline of a bull in one depiction. Wizard glanced at the page and shrugged. "That's my star-sign, you know."

"Is it? I would have never guessed." Now, Molly couldn't really tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but she got the feeling his words hadn't been meant politely.

"Um…why wouldn't you have guessed?" she asked, not exactly in a rude fashion, though there was a slight edge to her voice. The Wizard was silent, as he usually was, and she took another look at the book. Scribbled in the margins next to the pictures of the star signs were words written in English; next to Cancer was 'sensitive, caring, creative', next to Virgo was 'neat, organized, patient' and next to Taurus was 'stubborn, grounded, intelligent'.

"Intelligent?" Finn said, also reading the page. "It says intelligent. If Wizard didn't think you could be a Taurus, that means…"

"You think I'm not intelligent enough to be a Taurus?" Molly asked, her brows knitting together. Again, silence. "Or is it that you think I'm not 'grounded' enough?"

"I said neither of those things." Wizard murmured, taking another sip of coffee, his eyes scanning the pages of another volume of constellations. Molly frowned, and, snatching the thermos out of his hands, trumped her way down the stairs.

"And to think, I've been going through all the work of making coffee for you!" she shouted as she made her way towards the door. "To think, I was beginning to like you!" Wizard said nothing as she left, slamming the door behind her. Molly ignored the strange looks she was getting as she made her way towards her ranch, fists balled at her sides. When she reached her house, she grabbed her hammer, and then began the climb uphill towards the mine district.

"Where are you going?" Finn asked, almost fearful. Molly just pouted.

"I need to smash something," she said, her grip tightening around the handle of the hammer. "Ug! That Wizard makes me crazy! The nerve of some people!"

"Uh, you have to remember," Finn said, "Wizard doesn't get out much. He doesn't really know how to talk to people…" he trailed off as Molly shot him a death glare. "Or, uh, at least, that's what Alan told me."

"Sociable or not, that was just downright rude!" Ironically, the sun was starting to peek out of the clouds as she passed the carpenter's on her way to the mines, and the chirp of birds did nothing to brighten her mood.

"You don't look too happy," Molly nearly jumped out of her boots as Luke spoke up; she hadn't noticed him lounging in the mine cart that sat on the left side of the mine entrance. He sat up, a long stalk of wheat in his mouth, his usual smile plastered on his face.

"Jeez!" Molly wheezed, clutching her chest, "you nearly gave me a heart attack! Didn't your Dad ever tell you not to sneak up on someone wielding a huge hammer?"

"I'm sure he did, at some point," he hopped out of the cart and sauntered over to Molly. "Not like I was listening."

"Wow, intelligent, as well as modest." The level of sarcasm in her voice rose, and for some reason, that seemed to calm her down a bit. Smoothing her hair down, she rolled her eyes at Luke. "What is it you want this time, Luke?"

"Why do I always have to have a reason to talk to you. Can't friends just talk?"

"Is that what we are? Friends?" Again with the sarcasm, but she realized then, even though Luke was almost insufferably cocky, he was still more tolerable than the Wizard. Sure, he said the wrong thing most of the time, but it was different then when the Wizard said the wrong thing. The Wizard was smart enough to realize when he was hurting Molly's feelings; Luke was not. Probably. He didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Why not? Why couldn't we be friends? I know I'm not the smartest of guys," Molly snickered at this, "but hey; I'm funny and talented and good looking; what girl wouldn't want to be friends with me?"

"And don't forget that good old fashioned charm," Molly put in, a small smile creeping its way onto her lips. "Well, why not? Looks like I'm down one friend recently. I suppose you'll have to do as a replacement." Luke beamed, but Molly wasn't about to let it go to his head. "But I'm still rather cross, so, I suggest, if you don't fancy getting your shins smashed in, you let me through to the mine." At this Luke jumped aside, but caught her elbow as she passed.

"Alright, but we've got to do something fun this weekend. The Harvest Festival is coming up; do you wanna hang out there?" Looking up at Luke and his amber eyes, how could Molly say no? Sighing and nodding, Luke let go of her arm and smirked.

"Awesome! I'll see you there!"


	5. Chapter 5: Something Stolen

**Chapter Five: Something Stolen**

"Oh my Goodness, it's so tiny!"

"Jeeze, Molly, that's probably the worst thing you could ever say to a guy!"

"Look at it, Luke, it's so small! So itty bitty!"

"Stop that! It's the same size as anyone else's!"

"No way, it's so much smaller than any I've ever seen! And I've seen a lot!"

"Now that's just cold! We'll just see what the judges think!" Luke mock-pouted as he set the pumpkin down on the judging table, Molly not far behind, smirk on her face, her own pumpkin in her hands. "I know I'm not some five-star rancher like you, but I know how to grow a pumpkin!"

"I'm not a five-star rancher," Molly said, shoving him to the side playfully. In reality, Luke's pumpkin wasn't that much smaller than her own, and actually a great deal bigger than some of the other pumpkins in the running for the Vegetable Contest. Luke only had one item to enter, but Molly played to win, and had entered a 'Shining' cherry into the Fruit Contest and a Bluemist flower into the Flower Contest. She'd even entered some of her coffee in the Cooking Contest, though she didn't think it would win any prizes. Her heart just hadn't been in cooking it, not since she'd sworn she'd never visit Wizard again. But she wasn't going to think about that now; she was spending the day with Luke, and she wasn't going to think about Wizard at all.

"Could've fooled me," Luke said, dragging her off to look at the other booths. It seemed as if the entire island had shown up to enjoy the festivities, even Perry was there, tasting some of the pudding Taylor was selling. And Molly could have sworn she'd seen the Witch pop in to pick up some flax from Ruth's booth. In fact, the only face she didn't see was that of one grumpy Wizard…

"Yoo-hoo, Earth to Molly?" Molly snapped out of it when Luke started waving his hand in front of her face. "What was that? You sorta spaced out on me there," he said.

"Oh, it was nothing," she assured him. "Uh, let's go see if they've started the judging for the contests already." She turned to walk down the hill towards Marimba Farm, and as Luke followed, he slung his arm casually over her shoulders, inadvertently shoving Finn off his perch.

"Hey!" he said, though Molly knew Luke couldn't hear him. She raised as eyebrow at the boy, who only noticed anything was amiss when Molly cleared her throat to get his attention.

"What?" he asked, honestly mystified, and Molly motioned to his arm. "Oh, what? Friends can't hang their arms over other friends shoulders?"

"Well, I guess so," she said, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Hmph, do whatever you want." She imitated Luke's mock-pout and crossed her arms, slightly miffed at the way the boy smiled triumphantly, though not so much so that she felt the need to knock his arm off. It was a little weird, she would admit, but she didn't all together hate it. It was sort of…comforting. In a weird way.

"The winners of this year's Vegetable contest is…" Molly crossed her fingers as Hamilton tore open the judge's envelope, "Anissa!" Molly wasn't that surprised as Anissa went up to claim her reward of ten shining bags of fertilizer; she had simply grown a superior pumpkin. She was happy with her second place pumpkin and her third place cherries, but was quite surprised to walk away with the first place prize in the Flower Contest. "And now we will announce the winners for the cooking contest. In first place is Chase, with his excellent Herb Fish! Second place is Yolanda, with her delicious shortcake! And third place is Molly, with her superb coffee!"

Molly was quite surprised when her name was called, and was a little numb as she accepted her prize of ten good sugars.

"Alright!" Luke said, his smile genuinely happy, instead of just cocky. He'd managed to take home third for his pumpkin, but for the first time Molly had ever witnessed, he seemed to be honestly happy for someone else's achievements. "You placed in every single contest! That's so awesome!"

"Thanks," Molly said, returning his smile. "You did a good job growing that pumpkin, I'm sorry I was teasing you."

"Think nothing of it; now I have a new goal for next year: beat you in these contests!" He put his arm back around Molly's shoulders as they continued to walk around the festival, talking with neighbors, taking pictures, tasting whatever Taylor had cooked up at his booth. Luke seemed especially fond of the banana pudding, and as a show of good sportsmanship, Molly bought him some.

"I absolutely love bananas," he said, scarfing down the pudding in about three seconds. "Is there any fruit on earth better than bananas?"

"Bananas are okay," Molly countered, "but Kiwis are my all time favorite."

"Kiwis? What the heck are kiwis?" It made sense that Luke had never heard of the green fruit; it wasn't grown on Castanet, so he'd probably never been given one. But they could be bought at any store in the city, and Molly had basically been raised on them.

"Little fuzzy green fruits. They kind of taste like a cross between strawberries, green apples and oranges." She said, realizing then that they were headed away from the commotion of the festival. "They're sort of sour, but really delicious. I ate them a lot as a kid."

"That sounds like the weirdest fruit I've ever heard of," Luke laughed. Molly had never heard him laugh like this, and it was sort of infectious. It wasn't long before she was laughing as well, and it also wasn't long before they found themselves standing on the bridge over the big river. Looking down into the fast-flowing water, Molly realized how quiet it was.

"Maybe I'll get you some sometime," she said, leaning over the side of the bridge to look at her reflection in the water below. "They're honestly-" she straightened up, perhaps a little too fast, and found herself face to face and way too close to Luke. "-delicious," she finished, blinking a few times. Both of them were standing way too close to each other, and it didn't occur to Molly to step away until it was too late; Luke had already leaned forward and kissed her.

Molly wasn't familiar with kissing. In all honesty, she'd never done it before. But the kiss Luke gave her was quick and soft, and he'd stepped away before she'd had time to realize what had just happened.

"I…uh…" was all she could manage to spit out, while Luke's face just turned red.

"Um…" it was odd to see Luke speechless, and for some reason, it amused Molly. Amused her so much, it caused her to smile, which in turn caused Luke to get the impression that Molly was smiling because he'd kissed her. Which was not the case. "I'm sorry about that," he said, his cocky self creeping back up. "But, you know how it is…plus, you can't say you weren't wishing that would happen. I mean, I AM pretty awesome." Molly's eyes rolled involuntarily, but her insides felt like jello; she had no idea how to feel about that. On one hand, it had been her very first kiss! Her lips were no longer virgins! This should be a joyous occasion! So…why wasn't it? Why wasn't she happy? Luke was nice enough; certainly not the worst boy to share her first kiss with. But it didn't feel…right. Something was wrong, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Luke walked Molly home, talking about everything, and nothing all at the same time. It occurred to Molly that Luke must just talk to hear his own voice, because whenever he asked her a question, he wouldn't even wait for her reply. He said good bye to her on her doorstep, and kissed her cheek good bye, another thing she didn't know how to feel about, and Molly went to bed that night so completely and utterly confused, she woke up feeling as if she hadn't slept a wink.

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><p><strong>You all thought that dialogue at the beginning was something dirty, didn't you? Get your heads out of the gutter! XD<strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Surprise

**Chapter Six: Surprise**

Julius sat on the couch across from Molly, one leg crossed over the other and his right foot tapping on the wood floors of the shop.

"So, tell me what happened," he said, watching as Molly fidgeted with her hair. "C'mon, spill the beans. Something's up. Mira's out sick today, so we have the whole shop to ourselves. So just tell me what's bothering you already!" Molly looked up at her friend, and sighed.

"Well, it's sort of embarrassing to talk about," she said, twirling a lock of hair in between her fingers. Julius just rolled his eyes.

"More embarrassing than that time you tripped in front of the Inn carrying Yolanda's birthday cake, splattering it all over the sidewalk?"

"Ug, don't remind me of that!" Molly wailed, holding her head in her hands. "Chase still won't talk to me!"

"It can't be worse than that, so just say it." Molly was grateful that Julius was so patient with her, though this was still a weird topic to discuss with him, friend or not. He was a guy, after all.

"Fine. At the Harvest Festival yesterday…" she bit her lip, and looked at the floor, wondering how to phrase this. "Okay, so, me and Luke were hanging out, and having a great time, and-"

"You were at the Harvest Festival?" Julius interrupted. "Why wasn't I invited; I would have liked to go!"

"I'm sorry! But that's what the whole problem is; I think Luke thought me and him were on a date!" She felt a little better now that the mess was off her chest and in the open air. "I said I'd hang out with him at the festival, and then we were having a lot of fun, but he kept putting his arm around me, and then, he sorta…"

"Yes?" Julius raised an eyebrow, but it was a good minute before Molly could think of a good way to phrase this.

"Well, he kinda…kissed me." Julius was rather expressionless for a few moments as he mulled this over in his head.

"Well, was it a date? Did you want him to kiss you?" he asked, and Molly shook her head no.

"I…I don't really know," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "I was happy to be hanging out with him, and Luke is nice and funny, but I sorta felt…weird when he kissed me. Like, something wasn't right."

"You have feeling for another guy, don't you?" Julius's smile was a sly one, and he laughed his bell-like laugh. "Oh, I know what it is! You've got the hots for some other guy, and now you're feeling bad for leading poor Luke on! Tell me, who is it you're crushing on?" Molly was slightly miffed that Julius was having so much fun poking fun at her internal crisis. "Is it me? Well, I'm sorry to tell you dear, my heart belongs to the fair Candace! That is, if she'd ever actually accept any of my gifts…"

"It's not that, Julius! Seriously, I'm feeling really conflicted here!"

"Well, do you like Luke or not?"

"I…I do…I think," Molly bit her lip again, and her brows knitted together.

"And have you been growing close to any other guys lately? Any at all? Besides moi, of course."

"Um….well, I WAS visiting the Wizard for a while…"

"Who?" Molly was almost shocked to hear Julius had never heard of Wizard before, but then she remembered: Wizard was an unsociable little trilobite who never left his house. Of course no one knew who he was.

"Um, the fortune teller. I was bringing him coffee for a while, but then…we had a fight, and I stopped visiting him. That's when Luke and I made plans to go to the festival together."

"Well, there's your problem right there," Julius said, standing up. "You're feeling guilty, because on a subconscious level, you feel as if you've replaced your friendship with Wizard with your friendship with Luke, and now that Luke wants to take it one step further, you're feeling rather conflicted." Molly was impressed. Thinking about it, Julius was spot on. If he weren't so into gemstones, he might make a decent therapist. Or at least a fashionable one.

"Well, what should I do?" she asked, standing and following Julius out onto the porch. He just turned to her and winked.

"Go talk to Wizard. Sort out this little disagreement you two had. Once you're back on good terms with each other, you'll be able to tell if this thing with Luke is real, or if it was just to help you get over Wizard."

* * *

><p>"Wizard?" Molly called, once again stepping into a dark house. More books than usual were strewn here and there, and a few more chalk drawings of constellations adorned the floorboards. Careful not to tread on any of the hand-drawn star systems, she made her way up the stairs, and spotted Wizard sitting by his telescope, scribbling something into a notepad. "Uh, hi Wizard. It's me."<p>

"I know." He said, not looking up. Molly felt sort of awkward, and reached into her rucksack for the thermos she'd packed.

"I, uh, brought you some coffee." Even in the dark, she could see Wizard's heterochromatic eyes glint as he looked up to the thermos, and she felt him take the thermos from her hands and heard him rustle around, no-doubt searching for a mug. "Look, I know I sort of…over-reacted last time we talked, but, I came to say…I'm sorry." She couldn't be sure if Wizard was even listening, but she didn't care. "I promise not to blow up like that again. Can we…still be friends?" There was silence, and then, after a long moment, Wizard spoke.

"We were never friends," he finally said, his voice as soft and quiet as ever. "You merely provided me with caffeine, and then distracted me from my studies." Molly was shocked; had she heard right? She couldn't be sure, so she shook her head, hoping to dislodge whatever was stuck in her ear and causing her to hear crazy things.

"What did you just say?" she asked, but Wizard had clammed up. He was peering through his telescope, and paying her no attention. Getting madder by the second, Molly was about to put that rude bastard in his place, when he looked up at her and began to speak again.

"If you intend to keep your promise and not 'blow up' anymore, I suggest you leave now, before you injure any of the delicate instruments I keep here." He stood and walked past her, no doubt aware of how steaming mad she was. "Perhaps you could spend some more time with that boy; Luke. Maybe he's unintelligent enough to enjoy your neurotic company. He seemed to take quite a shine to you yesterday evening."

"You…how did you…" Molly stuttered, and then she new. The Wizard was a fortune teller. He had a crystal ball. He could see anything from right here in this room. Without saying a word, Molly left, slamming the door behind her again, and ran all the way back home, a worried Finn in tow. But she didn't stop at her house; she ran all the way back up to Garmon mines, threw open the door to the carpenter's shop and, knowing full well that the Wizard cold and probably was watching her right now, went right over to where Luke was sanding down a plank of wood and kissed him, full on the mouth. Luke was pleasantly surprised to see Molly, to say the least, and returned the kiss. Dale stood, jaw hanging open behind the counter, and poor Bo stumbled out from behind the door that had just been slammed open on his forehead.

"Wow," Luke said, as Molly finally pulled away. "I guess you really CAN'T stay away, can you?"


	7. Chapter 7: More Sarcasm

**So…many…chapters…..in one day!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven: More Sarcasm<strong>

Molly hated lying. Lying only made things worse. She was lying to Wizard, lying to Luke, and lying to herself. This was all one big mess, but she couldn't let it stop now, not when everyone in town was beginning to buy into this huge lie!

"So, I see you're still together with Luke," Julius said, smiling his usual sly smile as he walked beside Molly on her way into Harmonica town. "I guess you really like the guy, huh?" Molly forced a smile and shrugged.

"What can I say…he's somehow really appealing." The words felt and sounded completely phony, but Julius didn't seem to pick up on the fact that Molly was basically singing Luke's praised through gritted teeth, and so, the lye grew.

Things got especially bad when she and Luke were seen together. The older folk were always saying things like 'aw, puppy-love' and 'aren't they precious?' and it was making Molly absolutely sick to her stomach. Of course Luke was eating it up; he was such an attention hog. And he was always all over Molly! It was uncomfortable enough to be seen holding his hand, it was downright mortifying to be seen with her lips all over hers, or worse. And Luke picked the WORST spots to try and 'make a move', as he put it; they'd received a rather disapproving look from Perry when they'd been caught kissing under the cherry trees in the church courtyard. This was all spiraling out of control, and Molly was downright miserable.

The only thing that made all of this even close to worth-while, were the few times she'd seen Wizard glaring at her out his window, all of which she'd been with Luke. Luke was oblivious to everything around him, but Wizard no doubt knew what was going on, and she loved the fact that it was upsetting him. She didn't know if he knew she was faking it, but even if it did, she didn't care. If he was unhappy, then she was perfectly fine.

And yet, even that was a lie. She didn't want to make him happy, not really. She just wanted what she'd wanted from the beginning; to be friends. She didn't know why she had such a fierce desire to befriend that unsociable little shut-in, but she did, and the guilt from the whole situation was just eating away at her.

"Hey, something's wrong, isn't it?" It was perhaps the only time Luke had ever noticed anything wasn't as perfect as he'd thought. He and Molly were sitting near the gate that separated the lighter bit of forest from the denser, more dangerous bit of jungle, just sitting as Luke talked to Molly about carpentry, or trees or wood or something (Molly didn't know, nor did she care). The carpenter's shop had been rather busy that morning, and her house had been too dirty to invite Luke to, so he'd decided (with no input from Molly) that they'd hang out by the entrance to Fugue Forest; close enough to the meadows beyond to be safe from any danger in the forest, but far enough from the path that they couldn't be seen.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing." Molly said, resting her head on her knees as she hugged her legs up to her chest. Luke's arm snaked around her waist, and a shiver ran up her spine.

"No, really, you can tell me," he said, and when Molly looked up, she was almost positive she could see genuine concern in his amber eyes. Was that even possible? Could Luke have a brain big enough to understand that other people had feelings also?

"I'm fine, alright?" she said, too weary to put up much of a defense. "Just…tired of…people." It was a vague answer, but Luke didn't seem to notice.

"Well, there's no people here," he said, looking around. "Just us." He leaned over and kissed her cheek, sending more shivers up her spine. It was moments like this, when Luke actually showed some genuine concern for other people, that Molly felt especially bad about lying to him. But what was she supposed to say? 'I'm sorry Luke, every time I've kissed you, it was all a big lie to try and make someone else jealous?' How was that fair to Luke? He may have been stupid, but he didn't deserve that.

"Yeah, I know." She was pretty monotone when she spoke, and close her eyes for a few minutes, just to rest them, and she felt Luke's arm pull away from her. 'Finally!' she thought, but when she opened her eyes again, the boy was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, Luke?" she called, "Where'd you go?" When she didn't hear an answer, she stood and looked around. Luke's footprints led away from her, but cut off, and she had no idea where that boy could have gone. She walked around a bit, looking behind trees to try and find him, but she couldn't, and just when she was beginning to wonder if he'd just gone home, he leapt out at her from behind an old oak tree and tackled her to the ground, roaring with laughter as he did so.

"I scared you!" he laughed, pinning her to the snow-covered ground and grinning down at her. Molly was not amused in the least, and struggled to get up.

"You big jerk!" she yelled, trying to stand, but finding that Luke was far stronger than he looked. She hadn't been hurt, but she had been scared pretty badly, and now her clothes were soaking wet. "Get off of me! Get off right now!"

"What's the rush?" he said, eye narrowing. "We're all alone…doesn't this give you any ideas?" Molly scrunched her eyes closed and struggled even harder, barely listening to him.

"Get up! I mean it! Get up or I'll kick you where NO ONE wants to be kicked!" She was serious, but Luke wasn't listening. He laughed, thinking Molly was joking or something, and bent down to kiss her.

"C'mon, now, Molly; you seriously aren't getting any ideas? None at all?" Molly stopped her struggling momentarily to really let Luke's words sink in, and when they did, all she could do was try and struggle against him that much harder.

"Let me up, Luke! This isn't funny! I'm serious!" Her voice cracked on the last syllable of 'serious', and she was dismayed to see amusement in Luke's eyes. "Alright, please! Please let me up! I said the magic word, now let me go!" Luke just chuckled, and held a finger to her lips.

"You really don't have to be nervous," he said, "I know what I'm doing. I can take care of you." The tone he was taking, and the way the words seemed to slither off his tongue did nothing but freak Molly out more, and her eyes grew wider, not with anger, but with panic.

"You don't understand," she said, "I can't…I don't want to! Please let me go! I'm not joking, Luke! Please!"

"You're so cute," he whispered and kissed her again, cutting off her voice. She squeezed her eyes shut, and thought to herself, there wasn't anything that could make this worse. But as life often did to poor Molly, it proved her wrong. Things could get worse. And they were about to.

"I may only be a student in magic," Wizard said, his boots crunching the snow as he approached, startling both Luke and Molly, "but I believe the point of magic words is to make something happen. She said 'please', which is supposed to compel you to do whatever it is she's asking. So why hasn't it?"

"Hey, scram, buddy!" Luke said, sitting up and inadvertently letting Molly scramble away. "This is between me and Molly!"

"I believe that is where you are wrong," Wizard said, his voice even and calm. "You, the poor pawn in this chess game, have been dooped into playing for the wrong team. You were never the object of Miss Molly's misguided affections, but rather the vice she used to attain the revenge she sought against me. A valiant attempt on her part, though it seems things have gone awry, and the tables are now turned against her." Of course, this tirade went right over Luke's head, and he continued to glare at Wizard.

"Whatever," he said, frowning as he stood. "C'mon, Molly, we can continue this somewhere else." He grabbed Molly's wrist and yanked her to her feet, but she pulled out of his grasp and stumbled back, away from him.

"No!" she said, bracing herself to run if he gave chase. "I told you to back off; I don't want this!" Luke just stared at her, eye brows knitted together, and then took a few steps toward her.

"We're GOING," he said, but Molly shook her head no. "What is WRONG with you? You're not acting like yourself!"

"Niether are you!" she said, hands trembling, from fear and from the fact that her clothes were soaked and she was colder than a penguin at the South Pole. "Just go home! We'll talk about this later!" Luke looked from Wizard to Molly for a few minutes, before turning and stomping off, leaving the two alone in the woods. Molly looked at her shoes, unable to meet Wizard's gaze, but he didn't move, and when she finally did build up enough of her courage to look up, she found him staring at her.

"So, you knew, huh?" she said, her voice small. The Wizard nodded, his face blank. Molly looked at her gloves, and then shook her head. "I must seem like a fool," she said.

"No. You seem like a human." Wizard's voice seemed somewhat bigger, out here where it could echo against the trees. Molly looked up again, and Wizard didn' t break his gaze.

"So, you could see everything…is that why you came here?"

"No, actually, I came today to search for a Fugue mushroom; I need one for a spell I'm working on."

"Oh."

"But yes, I saw everything." Molly's face flushed red, and she started walking off towards the road; she wanted to get as far away from Wizard as she could. "Molly," he called, and she paused for a moment, though she didn't look back. "I was being sarcastic. About the star sign. You're the perfect Taurus. You humans just have no idea what sarcasm is." When Molly looked back to where the Wizard had been standing, she found that he'd already left.


	8. Chapter 8: Talking Things Out

**I use the word 'perhaps' waaay too much! XD**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Talking Things Out<strong>

Julius was quite fond of cat naps. Perhaps it was just his eccentric personality, or the fact that he usually woke up before the sun was out, but on his days off, he would meander around his house, doing this and that, and punctuate the day with little cat naps here and there. It was during one such cat nap that there came a rapid knocking on his door.

"Huh…? What? Who could be all the way out here, in Flute Fields, on such a miserable day?" he mumbled groggily as he stood and rubbed his eyes. "It's colder than my Mother's personality out there!" When he opened the door, the person standing on his doorstep was someone he'd never expected to see. Mostly because he'd never seen this person before. "Um, hello," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

The stranger had white hair and dark skin, almost as dark as that girl from Toucan Island. He was carrying a rather large leather-bound book, and his eyes were two different colors.

"You're…you're friends with Molly, aren't you?" he asked, slightly uncertain as he looked Julius over. Julius nodded, not sure why this random man would want to know who he was friends with. "There was an…incident. Molly's fine, but you may want to call her; to check up on her." This all seemed very weird to Julius, but he nodded and mumbled "Alright" as the stranger walked away, and then went inside to dial Molly's number.

"How did he know I was friends with Molly?" he muttered to himself as he waited for Molly to pick up. "I've never seen that man before in my life!"

"Hello?" Molly's voice on the other end of the phone sounded hushed and watery, as if she'd just been doing some shouting, or crying. She had never sounded like that before, as far as Julius could remember, not even when she'd dropped Yolanda's birthday cake, and it worried him.

"Molly, this is Julius. Some strange guy just showed up at my door and told me to call you…has something happened?" There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then a few sniffles.

"No," Molly said, as she could already guess at who the 'strange guy' had been. She just hoped that the Wizard hadn't told Julius too much. She really didn't want that humiliating incident getting around town, and even though she knew he always meant well, Julius was Castanet's biggest gossip. Even if he tried to keep it a secret, she knew he'd probably let something slip accidentally. "I-I'm fine…I just, uh, slipped on some ice down by the bank a-and…um, slid out onto the frozen river. I was freaking out, and then Wizard…that guy you were talking about, well, saw me and helped me back to the bank." It sounded mostly believable to Molly, and Julius seemed to buy it, though he knew something was up.

"Well, if you need anything, you know my number," he said, twirling a lock of hair in his fingers. "If anything else happens, you don't hesitate to call me!"

"Alright," Molly said. "Thanks for checking up on me, Julius."

"No problem." Molly hung up the phone and stared at the receiver for a few minutes. So, Wizard had gone to tell Julius to check up on her. She didn't know how to feel about that. It was humiliating enough that he'd had to come to her rescue in such a…horrible situation, but now he was sending people to make sure she wasn't having some sort of mental breakdown? It was demeaning and rude to assume she was all shaken up about this! But it was also kind of him, considering that she actually WAS shaken up about it.

It was getting dark, and Molly was almost afraid to go back outside, but her animals hadn't been fed today, and Chickadee was no doubt freezing cold with the barn door still open, so, bundling her coat up around her, she trudged outside and quickly set to work feeding and brushing and milking her animals. Her duck, Kitty, was already sleeping, but Chickadee was throwing a hissy fit and refused to be brushed, even though she had slushy, muddy burs stuck in her skin, and she was still refusing to be milked. Molly didn't know what she was going to do with this cow! But when her chores were finally done, she raced back inside and double-locked her front door.

Her sleep restless, and she kept having the same nightmare over and over again. Wizard was sitting up in a throne made of clouds with the Harvest King, laughing as a giant purple cow was stomping after Molly, trying to stomp on her with it's huge hooves. The cow was getting closer and closer, and just as it was about to smash her, the dream would change, and Molly would be sitting in her house. At first, everything seemed normal, but then her furniture would grow faces, and her telephone kept trying to bite her ankles. It just kept ringing and ringing, louder and louder…until Molly realized, the ringing wasn't just in her dream. Waking with a start, she realized that A) it was morning and the weak winter sun was shining in through her window, and that B) her phone was actually ringing.

Moving on groggy, sleepy feet, she got out of bed and walked over to the telephone, picking the receiver up and mumbling "Hullo?"

"Molly?" The voice on the other end was familiar, but it was also strange, seeing as Molly had never received a phone call from this person before. "It's Phoebe. I'm standing out behind the Carpenter's shop, watching Luke swing his axe at things, shouting your name. Do you have any idea what this is about? He's waking up the whole district, not to mention he's already turned three piles of lumber into wood-chips."

"Crap," Molly groaned, holding her head in her hands, the receiver sandwiched between her ear and shoulder. "Yeah, I know what that's about."

"Well, care to explain it?" Phoebe huffed. "Or at least come down here and diffuse the situation yourself? He's going to wake the bears from their hibernation!" Niether of those suggestions were things Molly wanted to do, but she knew she was going to have to talk to Luke about this sooner or later. And she figured, if Luke didn't calm down soon, he was going to probably chop the Carpenter's shop down, and then she'd have Dale angry at her, too.

"Uh, yeah. I'll be right over." Molly hung up the phone and started slipping on her heavy winter coat. This was not turning out to be a great day. Why did he have to be acting up so early in the morning? She just wanted to put this whole situation behind her and forget it, but she knew Luke wasn't going to let her do that. This big mess needed to be dealt with.

* * *

><p>"Where is he?" Molly said, voice cracking slightly on the last word. Phoebe pointed out back, behind Dale's shop, though Molly really didn't need directions. She hesitated for a moment, though, wondering if she could ask Phoebe to go back with her. But he green-haired girl was already making her way back to her Mother's general store, mumbling to herself. Molly was in this by herself.<p>

"Luke?" she called softly, looking around the back of the house. Luke was swinging his axe in the air, and with one loud crack, split a fully in-tact tree-trunk in two. Molly flinched, and then took a few steps toward him. "Luke?" Luke didn't say anything, but he left his axe buried in the wood of the tree trunk, and promptly went inside.

"Was it really that easy?" Molly was surprised at how easy it was to forget about Finn when he was hiding in her pockets, though now that she thought back, she remembered him handing her tissues and patting her cheek last night when she'd been crying…er, venting. He was so quiet these days, that is was easy to imagine that he wasn't there.

"I…guess it was," she said, feeling slightly happy that she wouldn't have to talk to Luke, but also…guilty, for some odd reason.

"Why is he so angry?" Finn asked, his tiny child's voice sounding odd when used in such an angry manner. "He's to blame for this whole mess!"

"You know what? You're right, Finn!" She was beginning to feel stupid for her guilty conscience; what he SHE done wrong? Defended herself? Luke was acting like a child for something that was entirely his own fault, and he had no right to ignore the matter! Here Molly had been getting ready to apologize or something, but now she was thinking she was the one who should be getting an apology, not giving one! "C'mon, Finn, we're going to get to the bottom of this!"

It wasn't that Molly was a particularly brave girl, nor was she all that assertive with what she wanted, but when Molly was owed something, by Goddess she was going to get it! She stomped into the carpenter's shop and went right over to where Luke was sulking by the window. She ignored the weird looks she was getting from Dale as she stood with her hands on her hips and a pout on her face.

"Well?" she said, eyebrows furrowing. Luke looked up at her from under his own brows, the scowl quite apparent on his usually carefree face.

"Well, what?" he sneered, not breaking her gaze.

"I want an apology."

"An apology!" Luke stood and looked at Molly like she was crazy. "Why the hell would I apologize to you? You're the one who screwed things up!"

"That's a funny choice of words," she said, slightly deterred from her anger by the fact that Luke towered over her. Damn country-side genes, making all these damn men so much taller than her! In the city, she'd practically been a giant! "What did I do? I had every right to do what I did!"

"You're…you're…I don't even want to look at you!" Luke attempted to stomp back to the back of the shop, but Molly got in his way.

"No! I want an apology! Or at least for you to explain yourself! Why the hell won't you listen to me!" She could feel Finn shivering in her pocket, and when she glanced at Dale, she could see shock and confusion written clearly on his face. Poor Dale, she thought. He was really out of it.

"What's there to explain? You're a tease, but when push comes to shove, you back out!"

"How dare you!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dale stepped in between the two, holding his son away at arm's length. "What in the world is going on here? What happened?" Dale looked to his son, but Luke just stared at the floorboards. He wasn't about to admit what he'd almost done, nor the fact that he was no angry at the girl who he'd almost done it to. Luke may have been stupid and self-centered, but he knew that his Father wasn't going to see things his way. "Son, what happened?"

"Nothing, Dad," Luke said.

"Nothing? That was hardly nothing!" Molly piped up, feeling slightly more confident now that Dale was there to control whatever Luke did. "Do you realize how scared I was? How afraid I was of what you were about to do!"

"What happened?" Dale asked again, this time looking from Molly to Luke and back, his expression slipping from 'slightly concerned' to 'almost too afraid to want to know'. If looks could kill, Molly would have been dead, since Luke was staring daggers at her.

"You had better not-" he warned, though he was cut off as Dale hushed him.

"Why? Because you're embarrassed?" A few watery tears wells up in Molly's eyes, and she clenched her hands into fists. "You don't think I was too? That was humiliating, and now, you're trying to deny what you did? You pinned me to the ground and then-"

"No!" Luke burst out from behind his father and slapped his hand over Molly's mouth, sending them both toppling to the ground. Molly tried to wrestle free, but Luke wasn't going to let her speak. She finally had to resort to biting his hand, and when he finally let her up, she sprang towards the door, glaring at him.

"You're horrible!" Molly sobbed, wiping the tears from her eyes and scowling. "You're a horrible man, and I never want to see you again!"

"Fine!" Luke shouted as she slammed the door behind her, and taking off down the hillside towards her ranch.

* * *

><p>The door was open as Molly approached the big, white house, and a few flakes that were drifting down to the ground were brushed inside as she stepped through the doorway.<p>

"You're door was open," she said to the figure sitting at the table. "And it's freezing in here; you'd think it would be warmer since you've always got a fire going!"

"I had to air the house out," Wizard said, not looking up from his book, but as Molly drew closer, she could see his hands shaking with cold as he turned a page. "A potion exploded and the house was too smoky."

"I see." She sat down across from him, eyes still red and puffy, mug held in both hands. She was silent for a few moments, and then, "Thanks. For having Julius call me, I mean." Wizard just nodded, and she set the thermos on the table top. As usual, his eyes snapped up. "I brought you some coffee."

For some reason, the quiet really calmed her. She sat, studying the symbols etched into the table top for a few minutes, as Wizard sipped his coffee. It wasn't for nearly half an hour that he finally spoke.

"I suppose you're going to thank me with 'Eternal Friendship' or something like that." He said, eyes darting to her face briefly, before going back to his book. Molly would have to get used to his sarcasm if she was going to keep herself from getting angry with the Wizard on a constant basis.

"No," she said. "Not if you don't want me to. It's probably too 'human' for you, anyway." She could be just as sarcastic, and watched in amusement as something like a smile flashed across the Wizard's face.

"And Goddess knows this Island has too many humans."

"I suppose I caused that, huh? Ringing the bells and bringing everyone back."

"No. You caused it by stepping off that boat last spring."

"You're really mean." Molly smirked as Wizard's eyebrows furrowed.

"I could say the same to you."


	9. Chapter 9: I can't believe

**It's so convenient to have the heart counter in the games. There's no wondering 'How much does this guy like me?' It's just 'I have five hearts with this guy.' But it's not like I can just say that in the story, and that, mixed with the fact that the sarcastic personality I've invented for the Wizard makes him seem very cold and uncaring, I can see how it might become somewhat confusing, wondering if Wizard actually likes Molly! So, let's just say, at the end of last chapter, Wizard was probably three hearts, and in this chapter he's more like four or five hearts.**

**So, since we've finally moved on (or have we?) from the Luke fiasco, I can finally start moving into the main plot with Molly and Wizard; though, I wouldn't be surprised if Luke made another short appearance in the next few chapters!**

**On a side note, I honestly don't think we're grateful enough every single day we don't write in Spanish, and don't have to put an upside down exclamation point at the beginning of our sentences!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine: I can't believe I just did that.<strong>

Molly was not used to fancy things. Even when she was little, her family hadn't been rich, and while she was used to shopping at department stores and doing a decent job of keeping up on the current styles, she'd never owned anything seriously fancy. Her prom dress had been second hand, and the dress she'd worn to her uncle's wedding had been polyester! But this…this was simply fantastic! She supposed it was much easier to make things out of silk, now that Horn Ranch was producing silk yarn by the barrel full, but the handiwork on the red silk dress she'd bought from Candace at the Tailor's shop was just exquisite! It had a mandarin-style collar and short sleeves, and while she'd never worn anything like it before, she knew it would quickly become her favorite outfit.

Though she'd never dream of wearing to anything but a special occasion! It just so happened to be New Year's that night, and she was getting ready to celebrate the holiday in the Town Square with her friends and neighbors. She was looking forward to whatever festivities Hamilton had planned, and had a few things pre-packed in her rucksack, to enter in the contests Gill had told her about. She'd worked all year in the mines to find that diamond, and she was sure to win the Gem contest!

When she was satisfied with how her hair looked, she went to check the time, and found that she had just enough time to scamper down to Harmonica Town before the festival started. As she walked up the cobblestone path leading into town, she could hear Hamilton commencing the festival, and entered herself in the Gem and Fashion contest, before she had a chance to forget.

"Well, if you want my opinion," Hamilton said, scribbling her name down on the roster sheet, "I think you're bound to win both contests! That dress is beautiful; is it one of Candace's creations?"

"Yes, I bought it this morning!" Molly was quite relieved that, when she looked around the square, she did not see a familiar flame-pattern bandana. In fact, she hadn't seen Luke at all since they'd blown up at each other three weeks ago. It wasn't unwelcome to be rid of him, but it was a little…odd.

"Well, Good luck to you!" Hamilton brought Molly's head out of the clouds, and as she waddled off to sign more residents up, she wondered if he was always as happy on the inside as he seemed on the outside.

As it grew darker, the stars began to blink on in the clear, cloudless winter sky, and the nighttime chill began to creek up on the party goers. Molly didn't realize how cold she was until she noticed her finger tips turning purple, and it was then that Hamilton started to announce the winners.

"After much deliberation, the judges have decided the results of the three New Year's Contests! First place in the Gem Contest goes to…Molly!" She graciously went up to accept her prize of 1,000 material stone (it was written down on paper, of course! She didn't have to lug around that much slate!) but was slightly disappointed to have come in forth in the fashion show. But then again, her competition was Salena, Cathy and Luna, who were all insanely pretty as well as fashionable. 'Maybe next year,' she told herself, applauding Luna on her first place with the rest of the town. As she went off to explore the booths, the saw, out of the corner of her eye, Luna step down off stage, and right into the arms of Gill, who looked just as blank and haughty as he usually did, but his tone of voice was not so uppity with her, and he seemed to be congratulating her.

'That's so predictable,' Molly thought, smiling as the two walked off together. 'The future mayor and the book-keeper.' Everyone knew Luna had a nose for business, and with her type of personality, it was almost written in the stars that she would end up with Gill. And besides, she was the only one who could put up with his crap! And now that she noticed Gill and Luna, she began to see various other couples she had never noticed before. Phoebe was there, helping her Mother at her booth, and Calvin was hanging around, helping her lift boxes and gazing at her when she wasn't looking. Jin was milling about around Anissa's booth, commenting on the usefulness of a healthy vegetable diet (This was not something Molly found particularly endearing, but by the way Anissa was blushing, she guessed it meant more when your whole world revolved around your crops) Even Chase and Maya were flirting, in their own argumentative, insulting way. In fact, the only people Molly didn't notice pairing off were those who weren't there, those who were already married, and the littlest kids. But then again, the littlest kids were nowhere to be found.

"Hey, Finn?" she asked, when she was sure no one was paying attention to her. Finn snapped to attention on her shoulder. "Did you see where Paolo, Taylor and Chloe went? Weren't they JUST here?" The tiny sprite shrugged and shook his head.

"I thought I saw them climbing the slope; I sort of assumed they might be going to the school house?" He pointed up the slanting walk way, but Molly doubted those trouble makers were anywhere near the school house. She was rather curious, and wallowing in the pool of flirtation was making her slightly sick, so she climbed the sloping walk, and peeked into the school house. Just as she'd suspected, no one was there.

"Where could they-" She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence, when she heard giggling not far away. Following the sound, she found herself in front of Wizard's house, where she saw the three children huddled by the front door, whispering and laughing amongst themselves.

"What a great New Year's prank!" Paolo said, stifling a laugh. "Stealing Wizard's crystal ball; he'll never see it coming!" Molly couldn't help but laugh at the irony of that statement, and when she did, all three heads snapped up and stared at her wide-eyed.

""Uh oh," Taylor said.

"Busted," Molly said, though she wasn't all that angry. "What are you kids doing up here? Why aren't you at the festival?" She raised one eyebrow dramatically. "You weren't planning on causing any trouble, were you?" Paolo and Taylor looked sheepish, but Chloe returned her dramatic look with one of her own.

"We were just gonna have some fun!" she protested, pouting defiantly. "We were going to return the crystal ball tomorrow morning!"

"You know, the Wizard is a master spell caster. If he found out what you kids did, he could cast a spell on you three and turn you all into frogs!" The kids, even Chloe, looked at each other horrified, before slinking down the slope back to the festival, mumbling about 'adults always ruining the fun'. Smiling to herself for their mischievousness, she was about to turn around and follow them when she heard Wizard's door creak open.

"I'm not a 'Master Spell Caster'," he said, his arms crossed. Molly just smiled, which, to her great surprise, Wizard returned. It was just a small smile, but it was more than his usual blank stare, or the occasion scowl he wore. He glanced down at her hands, which she was rubbing together to try and keep warm, and shook his head. "I will never understand why you humans subject yourselves to this torture, all to meander around outside for the sake of 'tradition'."

"All for the sake of 'fun'," she corrected, "but I am getting pretty cold out here. I guess I should have guessed it would be this freezing; it is Winter." Wizard rolled his eyes minutely, and held the door open for her to enter his house. Without hesitating, Molly rushed in, basking in the warmth from the ever present fire, burning in the small fire place in the corner.

"You must be having a field day," Molly said, looking out the window.

"What do you mean?" came Wizard's blank response.

"You know, with all the stars. It's such a clear night." It was true, you didn't even need a telescope to see the vast numbers of stars twinkling in the navy blue night sky. But Wizard's confused expression didn't lift for a few more moments, until her words processed through his mind.

"Oh, right," he said hesitantly, and walked over to his desk, riffling through a few papers and charts. "Yes, the winter sky is magnificent."

"I'd really like to see it sometime," Molly said, "through your telescope, I mean." Wizard looked up at the girl, who was still looking out the window, and knitted his eyebrows together. He'd never heard a human say that to him before, that they were even remotely interested in the stars. Most humans were so self-centered, barely caring about anything that didn't directly involve them or their wants. Molly, though…she was…odd. No, odd wasn't the word. She was just different than other humans. She could be stubborn and silly like a human, but when it came right down to it, as far as Wizard had seen, she was actually pretty deep. Or at least, not as shallow as the rest of the Island residents.

"Perhaps I'll show you, sometime," he said, and for the umpteenth time that night, looked out his window that looked down on the town square. The residents of the Island were gathering below the clock tower, as the minute hand grew closer and closer to the big '12' at the top of the clock's orbit. "It looks as if the countdown is starting," he said, "you should join your neighbors." Molly looked back at him, and for a fraction of a second, though she could see a glimmer of…was that sadness? No, the Wizard she knew was far to sarcastic and cold to feel sadness.

"Maybe; it is really cold outside. Do you want to come down with me?" Her question was innocent enough, but Wizard just turned away, and didn't speak. Molly wondered what he had against the town, but figured, maybe like here, he just didn't want to leave the warmth of his house. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather stay here." Wizard nodded silently, giving his approval, and then the strangest thing happened.

It was as if a long forgotten bird had finally found the will to beat it's wings again. It was just a light fluttering in Wizard's chest, like the bird's wings had grown rusty and weak from disuse, but he could still feel it. It was an odd sensation, and as he stared at Molly, who was preoccupied trying to warm up her fingers by the fire, he couldn't help but feel the weird fluttering had something to do with her.

"I was never a good New Year partier," Molly said, smiling. "I always used to fall asleep before midnight; last year was the first time I stayed awake all night."

"I'm awake most nights," Wizard said.

"Is that why you like coffee so much?" He didn't answer that, and Molly took tha as a yes, but when Wizard thought on that question, the conclusion he came to was: he didn't know. At first, he thought it was novel that Molly brought him coffee because he was always exhausted in the mornings, and needed the caffeine boost. But now, when he thought of Molly bringing that familiar thermos, all he could think about was how happy he was, though he'd never show it, that it was Molly who was taking such an interest in him. She could have been bringing him pond water at this point, so long as she showed up.

Cheering could be heard outside, and when both occupants of the small house looked out the window, they saw the people in the square cheering and hugging and celebrating the new year. Wizard didn't think that looked like fun at all.

"What's your New Year's resolution?" Molly asked him. He already knew what Molly's was: earn a 'Hero' ranking for her ranch so she could summon the Harvest King. He'd 'accidentally' looked into her thought again using his crystal ball. But he hadn't much thought about his own.

"I suppose…to learn more about the movement of stars," he said. Molly nodded politely, and then another funny thing happened. The talk of New Year's resolutions had gotten Wizard thinking, and before he could stop himself, he committed his first reckless act. "Now that it's the New Year, I suppose you could consider us…friends." A small start, sure, but Wizard never, ever did anything without thinking the consequences through three or four times. For him, this was going wild with recklessness. For him, this was throwing caution to the wind.

The smile that split Molly's face in half kick started that fluttering again, and Wizard was slightly amused to see Molly's sprite, Finn, clapping his tiny hands together.

"Really?" Molly said. "Coming from you, Wizard, that's a lot! Thank you! Happy New Year, Wizard!"

"…Happy New Year…Molly…"


	10. Chapter 10: Romeo and Juliet

**Huh. We're movin' fast! Already at 7 hearts! Well, maybe we're really only at six, but we're only like, one cup of coffee away from being seven (don't you hate it when that happens in the game? I do.) A short chapter this time, but the next one will be longer!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten: Romeo and Juliet<strong>

Wizard noticed a lot of things. He never left his house, but why would he need to? He could see almost the entire Island from his crystal ball (except for Witch's house in the woods; she'd put some sort of enchantment on it and Wizard couldn't for the life of him figure out a way around it) He knew what teas Jin liked best, he knew what Chloe got for her birthday, and he knew that there was a collie dog living on the roof of Town Hall. But there were two things that were alarmingly apparent: one was that most of the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes were pairing off. The other was that Molly was slowly isolating herself from the rest of the Island.

Oh, sure, she still went on her walks with Julius occasionally, but even the purple-haired man was making himself scarce; he and Candace were getting pretty serious, to the point where he was starting to scramble to find a blue feather, and he had little time any more to catch up with Molly. Molly seemed like she didn't mind, but Wizard knew better.

Another thing about Wizard was that he. Was. Old. Very old. He remembered when Colleen's great-grandparents first migrated to Castanet from Ireland when they were children. He remembered when Ramsey's great-great uncle first started digging the mines in the Garmon District. He hadn't always lived in town (he used to live in the forest with the Witch, but that was another story all together) but he'd always been watching. Perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps out of fear. Either way, the humans that always managed to repopulate the Island were very entertaining, to say the least. And some more than others.

Take Molly, for example. Smart, determined, hard-working, albeit a little annoying, and yet she always seemed to be alone these days. That was interesting. Wizard knew it was no one's fault, no one was purposefully trying to exclude her. These sorts of things just happened when the whole town seemed to be dating each other, and Molly was adamant on not dating anyone. He could guess why, what with the whole Luke incident, he didn't blame her. Still, he knew she was lonely.

Loneliness. Now there was an emotion Wizard didn't know how to deal with. It was rather cliché to thin this, but before he'd met Molly, he hadn't realized how heart-breakingly lonely he'd been. Witch was horrible company, and even when he'd lived with her he'd been lonely. But he hadn't realized it until Molly started visiting him. Something about her just made him feel more…comfortable. It was like sitting in lukewarm bath water, and when she was away, it was like having a ton of ice dumped into the bath tub. Alright, that wasn't the best of metaphors, but the feeling was the same. And now, watching Molly pace through her house with nothing to do and no one to talk to, it made Wizard feel…funny. He didn't want Molly to feel as badly as he did being all alone. That sort of miserable loneliness was reserved for him and him only.

Was it creepy to watch Molly in his crystal ball? Maybe. Probably. Yes. But it was then, staring into the image cast on the spherical surface, that Wizard committed his second reckless act: he decided he'd visit Molly. It was so spur of the moment, he didn't fully realize what he was doing until he was knocking on his door. What had possessed him to do such a thing? He was still confused as to why he was here, a thermos of vegetable juice in his hands. Why vegetable juice? Your guess was as good as his.

"Yes?" Molly said, opening the door and sounding slightly shocked to see Wizard on her doorstep. "What…what a surprise! What brings you here?" Wizard smiled nervously, and rubbed the back of his neck, looking for the right words.

"Um, well, I was, uh, making some vegetable juice, and I thought you might like some…?" He held out the thermos uncertainly, and for a heartbeat, he thought she was going to decline. But she smiled that smile of hers, and Wizard felt that odd fluttering sensation in his chest again.

"That's so thoughtful of you!" she said, taking the thermos. "And I thought I was the only one who could cook!"

"Well, I'd hardly call it cooking," Wizard mumbled, wondering if real cooking was anything like making potions. "But I'm…glad you like it. I know it isn't much." Now, maybe it was her loneliness that made her do it, because her common sense was telling her that Wizard would probably react badly to this, but she reached out and hugged.

Wizard had never been hugged before. He didn't know what to do, honestly. But he was vaguely aware that the appropriate thing to do when receiving a hug was to hug the person back, so he did. And it was…nice. His first hug.

The fluttering in Wizard's chest intensified, and now it was borderline uncomfortable. What was happening to him? Was he sick? He'd never felt like this before, and while it was an unfamiliar feeling, he didn't dislike it. It was only uncomfortable because of it's foreignness. But he had to know what was causing it. After retreating back to his house and pouring over his books, he found that none of the old tomes he'd inherited from his master had anything on feelings. That was understandable, feelings and emotions were a luxury immortals were rarely permitted to enjoy. But that didn't quell his curiosity. In fact, it stoked it.

The library at town hall was limited, but what he could find, he checked out. He'd never really paid any attention to the books in the library's possession before; none of them had ever contained anything worth his while. But as he leafed through the thin pages of the few books he'd borrowed, he now found a wealth of information that he couldn't believe he'd never cared to know. Most of the information was interesting, but irrelevant, except for a small book about the size of his palm. He knew it to be what humans called novels, and he knew it was nothing but fiction (something at which his master had taught him to scorn) but now, it was more of a learning tool, and he couldn't keep his nose out of it.

It was a silly story; the tale of two children with silly names which he couldn't remember, falling in love within the course of a night. It was pretty unrealistic, as relationships between humans took time to develop, but Wizard couldn't help but read each line with a certain interest. Love. The boy was in love. And as he finished the book at around dawn the next day, he couldn't help but wonder…was he in love as well?


	11. Chapter 11: Old Habits Die Hard

**Chapter Eleven: Old Habits Die Hard**

Molly had been dreading this for weeks. She knew she needed an upgrade on her house, and she'd already collected the necessary lumber and slate to accommodate the renovations, but the only problem was: she was terrified to go to Dale's and ask him to upgrade her house. Going to Dale's shop meant seeing Luke, and seeing Luke was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

"You're tense," Wizard had commented when she'd gone to deliver him his coffee. She'd brushed it off and told him she was fine, but she got the inching feeling that he didn't believe her.

"Okay, Molly. I just have to buck up and do it," she told herself, marching up the path to the carpenter's shop. But she lost her nerve when she approached the door, and paused, taking a few deep breaths.

"You'll do fine," Finn assured her, patting her shoulder. "And if Luke says anything, I'll deck him for you!" Molly smiled at Finn; he may have been annoying sometimes, but she was growing fond of the little guy. But he was right; she steeled her nerve as she opened the door and marched in, relieved to see Luke nowhere in sight. She let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, and walked to the counter.

"Hey, Molly," he said, looking up, slightly surprised. "What can I do for you?"

"Could you upgrade my house to level two?" she asked. "I've got the lumber and slate out back."

"Sure. I'll get right on that." Molly smiled and turned to go, but Dale reached out and touched her shoulder. "Wait, I uh…what happened between you and Luke? He won't tell me," She turned to see genuine concern in his eyes, and thought: 'Dale makes a good dad; he's too good for Luke.'

"It's nothing you have to worry about. We just had a…a really bad break. It turns out, we don't see eye to eye on everything." She said the last phrase rather bitterly, and rather reassure Dale, it made him more uneasy.

"I'm sure that's not the whole story," he said, sighing and shaking his head. "But I guess that's all I'm going to get out of you kids. Alright, I won't bother you anymore about it. And I'll start on the upgrade later this afternoon." Molly nodded and left, relieved that she didn't have to face Luke. But she wasn't out of the water yet, as she would soon see.

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><p>"What are you making for dinner?" Finn asked, as Molly opened her fridge back at home and poked around.<p>

"I'm not sure. I was thinking maybe tomato soup, since the tomatoes are about to go bad. We might as well eat them before they get too soggy." She was interrupted in her mumbling about dinner by a knock at the door, and went to see who it was. Imagine her surprise to see none other than Luke, the man she despised the most on her doorstep. "Luke? What…what are you doing here?"

Luke didn't say anything for a few moments, just looked at Molly, and then coughed nervously.

"I…uh, was sent to…." He was faltering, and was looking at the floor. "I mean…Dale said to…I really miss you, Molly!" he burst out, finally making eye contact. Molly was surprised, to say the least, but she couldn't help the bile rising in her throat. How dare he come here, saying he missed her! The nerve!

"I don't miss you!" Molly said, the anger seeping into her voice. "You almost-"

"I know what I did, and I know what I said, and I was wrong!" It was pitiful, the puppy dog eyes he was giving her. It made her sick. "I'm so sorry, Molly! Please, you don't know how sorry I am!" Molly couldn't stand this; if she didn't get out of there soon, she was in danger of decking Luke right in the nose! She shoved past him, and while he tried to follow her for a little ways, he gave up when she reached the bridge into Harmonica Town. She marched up to Wizard's house and flung open the door (she was done with formalities) her eyebrows so furrowed that they were touching.

Wizard jumped when she entered, snapping shut the small book he'd been reading and shoving it into a drawer in his desk.

"Molly…?" he asked, as she went to flop down on the edge of his bed, her hands balled so tightly into fists that her nails were digging into her skin. "Something is…wrong?"

"Yes, something's wrong!" she snapped, though instantly regretted it when Wizard recoiled. "No, I'm sorry," she said, her tone softening. She was away from Luke, and with Wizard, who always seemed to either calm her completely down or rile her up. "Look, it's just that…I….I really don't know what to do," she put her head in her hands, and rubbed her temples with her thumbs. She couldn't very well talk to Wizard about this; he wouldn't understand, and he'd probably make things worse.

"What is it?" he predictably asked, sitting down beside her, just close enough to feel the heat radiating from her body, but far enough away not to be touching. His heart fluttered.

"It's…nothing," she decided, though she didn't look up.

"Nothing wouldn't have made you so upset," Wizard pointed out. Molly opened one of her eyes to peer at him, and then did a curious and borderline dangerous thing; she leaned her head against his shoulder. Wizard could feel his heart beating in his throat.

"You're nosier than usual," she said, thinking nothing of the simple gesture. "Something's changed about you." '_Yes,_' Wizard thought, swallowing hard to try and silence his heart, which he was sure she could hear pumping a mile a minute. '_I've just come to terms with the fact that I'm falling in love with you._'

"My levels of nosiness have not deviated," he said, tipping his head slightly towards her, an action he hadn't consciously made an effort to do. "It's about Luke, isn't it?" Molly was astonished at his perceptiveness, but then remembered that he was an all-seeing Wizard, and had probably been spying with his crystal ball.

"You're a cheater," she said.

"I wasn't aware that there was a rule book to life." He'd said this in all seriousness, but Molly must have thought he was being sarcastic, because she laughed.

"You're so much easier to get along with. You're wonderfully predictable." Wizard's ears perked at this; had she just called him 'wonderful'? Well, she'd said 'wonderfully predictable', but he hadn't heard the word 'predictable'. He'd suddenly become selectively deaf.

"I'm…glad you think that," he said, his cheeks growing warm. Was he catching a cold? Why was his face so warm so suddenly? "You are far easier to talk to than any human I've ever met. You remind me of the Harvest Goddess…" And at that, he realized he'd just committed his third reckless act. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to take back what he'd just said, even though it was the truth. What was this weird feeling? It was something between guilt and shame, though not at negative as either of those emotions. What would humans call it? Embarrassed? Regardless, Molly lifted her head to look at him, an endearing mix of surprise and happiness on her face.

"I remind you of the Goddess?" she asked, smiling slightly. Wizard's mouth hung open for a moment, until he gave up trying to find words and just nodded. His face was warmer than ever. Likewise, a subtle blush started to creep up on Molly's cheeks as well.

"I mean…you're very easy to talk to, like she is. You don't judge me like the rest of those humans; you understand me, and you….tolerate me." He stood up then, and rubbed the back of his neck. "And I think that…that you are just as, uh…visually appeasing as the Goddess…" Molly sat there for a long moment, letting his word sink in, before her face cracked into a huge smile.

"You think I'm pretty?"

"I suppose you could put it that way."

"Wizard?" The Wizard turned to look at her. He thought his heart had been pounding before, but that was nothing compared to how it raced now that he looked at Molly, her face positively glowing with happiness. In the moment before she spoke, Wizard thought that, more than anything in his immediate future, he wanted nothing more than to make her smile that beautiful smile as much as possible.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."


	12. Chapter 12: Meeting Master

**The only thing I was thinking while writing this chapter was: Use Occlumency, Wizard! (Harry Potter joke XD)**

**But yeah, a lot of drama in this chapter. I think Wizard may be written more out of character than usual, but oh well.**

**I'd also like to thank my wonderful reviewers; I love opening my email and seeing that people have liked and reviewed my story! Thank you all so much!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Twelve: Meeting Master<strong>

Molly was a simple girl. She liked to farm, and raise her animals (and to a lesser extent, make money) She didn't really need much in life to make her happy. But as she walked to the Inn (she couldn't stay at her house; it was being remodeled!) she realized for the first time since she'd arrived on the island; she was lonely.

The city had been a huge place, and so noisy that she'd never been able to hear her own thoughts. And when you walked down the street, no one ever smiled, or waved, or said hello like the residents of Castanet Island. But even now that she was surrounded by such jovial (and quiet) people, that feeling of loneliness was creeping back up on her. And when she looked back on the previous year, she realized that she'd never really been un-lonely, she'd merely forgotten that she was.

What had brought on this realization? Could it be…she was spending an awful lot of time around the Wizard lately. And the time spent with him was the only time when the loneliness ever went away. As she checked in and went to her room, she started seriously thinking about what was going on with Wizard.

She couldn't really put her finger on it, but something was different about that boy lately. He wasn't as…sarcastic as he usually was. Nor was he as shy around her anymore. They could actually carry on a conversation now, without him dropping out halfway through, which they'd never been able to do before. Molly liked having someone she could talk to, since Julius was preparing for his and Candace's wedding, and Finn was so childlike and naive, he didn't know what Molly was talking about half the time.

But right before Molly fell asleep, another realization hit her: she might actually like Wizard. More than just friends; she might actually have a crush on him. It was silly for an adult to admit that she had a crush on anyone; that sounded so juvenile! But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She was always in a good mood when she met up with Wizard, and she enjoyed making him coffee, and she enjoyed their little sarcastic taunts at each other. He was her friend, but he also seemed more than just a friend; he was her confidentiary, she could tell him anything, and he would always offer some bit of advice, albeit a little sarcastically. He was the only thing in her life right now that seemed constant, calm, unchanging, and…she liked that stability. She liked Wizard. She really liked Wizard.

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><p>"Wake up!" Finn said, drumming on Molly's forehead with his tiny sprite hands. "Wake up, wake up! It's time to wake up and start your day!" He flitted about in the air as Molly got to her feet; she'd had some interesting dreams last night involving a pickle dog and an erupting hot-chocolate volcano. Molly was a morning person, and it only took a few minutes to really wake up and start doing her hair and fixing her clothes. On her way out, she thanked Colleen and Jake and bought some coffee (seeing as her house was still probably being upgraded and she had no other way of obtaining coffee for Wizard) and then made her way back up to Wizard's house.<p>

It was the middle of Spring, and the air was pleasantly warm, so as of late, Wizard had been leaving his front door open, only closing it when the rain started up. But as Molly approached, she found that while the sun was shining brilliantly outside, Wizard's front door was closed and, surprisingly, locked.

"That's strange," Finn said, cocking his head to the side and shrugging. "He never ever locks his door. What's going on?" Molly just shrugged, and knocked a few times, the action feeling completely weird, seeing as she never had any qualms about walking right in. And what was stranger, was that there was no answer at the door. She didn't even hear any shuffling around inside.

"Maybe he's gone to search for some of those mushrooms he's always going on about…?" Molly suggested, casting the tiny sprite at her shoulder a worried glance. "I mean, I've hardly ever seen him leave his house, but…it could happen, right? He's got to leave sometimes."

"Maybe, but I-" Finn was cut off as the bolt on the door was unlocked and it swung open, nearly hitting Molly in the nose. She jumped back just in time, though, and saw Wizard standing there, his face devoid of any expression. His shoulders were square and stiff, and the bags under his eyes were even darker than usual. In short, he looked a mess.

"Wizard, what happened to you?" Molly said, stepping forward and brushing hair out of his eyes, noticing that the braid at his temple was frizzy and tangled. Wizard didn't say anything at first, just looked Molly up and down. He then opened his mouth, as if to speak, but was interrupted by a voice from inside.

"You shouldn't waste words on the likes of a human," the gravelly voice grumbled, the speaker shrouded in shadow against the back wall of the house. Molly peered over Wizard's shoulder at this new man, but could only see a single pair of glowing yellow eyes. These eyes were similar in shape to Wizard's, but drastically different in color. Wizard's right eye was a soft, honey yellow; these eyes could be called nothing but a dingy mustard color.

"Yikes!" Finn squeaked, flitting back to hide behind Molly's shoulder. Molly shot a questioning look at Wizard, but he just stared ahead, not looking at her. He didn't even blink.

"Um…if you have a visitor, I'll come back later," Molly mumbled, and was answered by coarse laughter from the mysterious yellow-eyed man. Her cheeks instantly went red.

"A human, deluding itself into thinking that it can so freely converse with our kind!" And just as easily as it had started, the laughing cut off, and the voice went back to being old and angry. "Send it away, Disciple; we don't have time for it." And just like that, Wizard reached for the doorknob to close the door. But before he could, Molly shoved the mug of coffee into his hands, looking up into his face and trying to meet his eyes. For the briefest of moments, his multi-colored gaze rested on her face, and Molly was positive she could see distress in his eyes. But then the moment ended, and he slammed the door shut.

She stood on the doorstep for a few seconds, jaw open, as she tried to figure out what had just happened. She was confused and worried and hurt all at the same time, but the fire inside her that usually made her want to punch something when she was angry must have died away when she'd seen those piercing yellow eyes, because at the moment, the only idea that sounded even close to reasonable was to go home and cry. She didn't cry, of course, but when she returned to her house (which was finished by then, thankfully) she did pace quite a lot, trying to figure out who that man could have been, and why he was causing Wizard to act so weird. Has Wizard mentioned any visitors lately? Not that she could recall. The shape of those eyes had been similar to Wizard's, could that be his father? She guessed not, since Wizard was immortal; she didn't know if he even had a father.

"That guy was scary!" Finn said, burying his face in her hair. Molly assured him that everything was fine, but she knew something fishy was up. She just couldn't figure it out.

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><p>Wizard was one of the strongest beings on the Island, and yet here he was, on his knees, holding his head and trying to keep from crying out in pain. The man who sat in the corner just scowled at him, though his eyes were distant. Wizard couldn't escape the burning, insistent pain as the man shifted through his memories, his thought, his feelings. Flashes of his past danced before his eyes; moments from his childhood, the burning, the running, the death of his family and those closest to him, all brought into focus, only to be ripped away in an instant. Newer memories appeared as well; his arrival on the island, the scorn he felt at being labeled a fortune teller, his awkward first meeting with Molly, the subsequent feelings he had begun to develop for the girl, the feeling of his heart fluttering against his ribcage…<p>

"Worthless!" the man spat, as he finally released Wizard from the mental head-lock he'd had him in, the latter collapsing against the wall, completely out of breath. "Have you learned _nothing_! You're a pathetic wizard!" The man finally rose to his feet, and towered over Wizard. He stepped out of the shadows, his pale skin a deep contrast to Wizard's dark skin. His face was hard and angular, and his eyes were slightly sunken under a heavy-set brow. But his hair was the same shade of pearly white as Wizard's, kept back in a long pony tail. "How can you call yourself a Magic Caster?"

Wizard said nothing, and dared not meet his Master's gaze. He didn't move for a full minute, until his Master barked "Get up!" Then and only then did he shakily rise to his feet, only to be smacked away by his Master's out-stretched palm.

"That's what you get," the man snarled, "for fraternizing with these…these worthless humans!" Wizard's head connected with the floor-boards with a painful-sounding crack, and the ringing in his ears was deafening. Standing back up and raising a hand to the spot on his temple where he'd hit the floor, he found he was bleeding. "What, did you honestly think that you'd be accepted by them? If you could 'befriend' one, you could assimilate into their society? Grow up!" Wizard looked back at his Master with fear in his eyes; the only way he ever looked at that man. "You're not a child anymore, Wizard; this isn't one of those stupid fairy tales where the Wizard ends up 'happily ever after'! This is how things are, and things have to be this way, or else the world would fall into chaos!"

The Master turned away then, his face still in a deep scowl. The pain he'd experienced over the centuries was written very clearly across his face, though he'd never let his Disciple see. The decibel of his voice dropped, and his shoulders hunched.

"Our kind can't live amongst humans; they fear us, and what humans fear, they end up destroying." Wizard's mind raced now that it wasn't under the control of his Master, and he went back to all the moments Molly had listened to him, understood him, laughed with him, teased him, put up with his sarcasm, made him coffee. And the two things happened at once: he realized for the first time that his Master was wrong about something. Not all humans were bad, nor were they as stupid as he'd been taught. And the second thing that happened was: he committed his forth, and possible last, reckless act.

"You're wrong." Wizard said, straightening up and looking at his Master with a steady gaze. There was still fear in his eyes, to be sure, but there was something else, too. Conviction, maybe. Or determination. His Master looked back at his Disciple, eyes wide with astonishment. Wizard had never stood up to him on anything before.

"I'm wrong?" The Master said, blowing up. "I'm wrong, am I? I've lived for eons longer than you have, you don't think I was just as stupid as you are once? You don't think that I was once in love? I've been there, Wizard! I thought she was different! I thought she would love me, no matter what! But I was wrong, just like you are wrong! Humans are nasty, shallow creatures who only care about themselves! They think they can love, but all they do is cling to you, take from you, and when you're at your weakest, they shove you away, claiming that they could never love such a-" his voice cracked slightly, his eyes wild, "-such a monster! I was there, Wizard! I know what that feels like! And this girl's no different from the rest! She's a human, a greedy, evil little-"

"No." Wizard said, louder this time. "She's not evil, and she's not shallow, or greedy, or weak. You're wrong."

"I'm not!" The Master swooped forward and grabbed Wizard by the front of his robes, pulling him up to eye level. "What makes you think she's so different? How is she any different that Daphne? How? What makes you think she'll want you when she finds out what you've done? To your own family? Do you think any human would want such a monster? A killer?" Wizard's face, which was usually so blank, it was irritating, broke then, into the most miserable expression one could imagine.

"Don't!" he cried, shoving away from his Master, holding his head in his hands. "Don't talk about them! Not my family!"

"The little boy who killed his family," the Master said, his scowl so deep, it was in the process of creating seven new wrinkles. "In cold blood."

"I didn't! I didn't mean to!" He dropped to his knees and, for the first time since the horrific accident, started to cry. They were odd, silvery tears, and his cries were haunting and sallow, and floated throughout the house, echoing oddly. The Master was quiet until Wizard had calmed down, and then he retreated to his seat in the corner of the room.

"The World is cruel, Wizard," The Master said, casting his yellow eyes down on his Disciple. "Magic Casters cannot love, nor live with humans. However close we may be in proximity to those creatures, we will always live separate lives. It is the way things must be." And this time, Wizard did not protest.


	13. Chapter 13: Buttons and Glass

**I forgot to mention in the last chapter; The Master mentions a girl named Daphne. If you didn't already guess, Daphne is the girl he once loved. She might be mentioned again. It depends on how much I decide I like the Master XD Also, she's from ancient Greece (The Master is OOOOOLD! And Daphne was a human, so needless to say, she's dead.)**

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><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen: Uneven buttons and Broken Glass<strong>

"Congratulations, you two!" Molly was smiling ear to ear as she approached Candace and Julius, who returned her smile ten-fold. Candace was a vision in white, in the wedding dress Luna had made for her (with Shelly's help) and Julius looked quite dapper in his tux. The ceremony had just ended, and their wedding photo just taken, and now friends and neighbors were descending upon the newlyweds to congratulate and wish them well.

"Th-thank you," Candace stuttered, looking pleased, but still slightly terrified at being around so many people. Julius held her hand reassuringly and smiled.

"It means so much to us that you came, Molly," Julius said.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world!" Molly was genuinely happy to see her friend marry the girl he'd been pining after since she'd met him, but she suddenly realized that this meant that she really couldn't hang out with him anymore. He was a married man; what would it look like, her cavorting around with him? She'd never want to hurt Candace like that. But now that Wizard was acting so weird, it meant that Molly was almost completely alone now.

She sighed when she remembered the weird treatment she'd received from Wizard a week ago. She didn't know who that man had been, and she didn't know why Wizard had been so stiff and scared looking. It was really eating away at her, and as soon as the reception was over, she walked down from the Church Grounds to Wizard's house.

The door was not locked this time, and she poked her head in. She decided to act as if nothing had happened, and if he mentioned anything about it, she'd tell him how she'd felt about the cold treatment.

"Hello?" she called, "Wizard? Are you home?" She didn't get an answer, but she did see Wizard's white hair in the dim light of the house, up on the second landing, no doubt looking through his telescope. She tip toed up the stairs and stood at the top of the flight, just looking at him. "Hi, Wizard. How was your day?" The man didn't answer, but he did look up from his telescope briefly. "Are you okay? You seem quieter than usual." Again, no answer. "Um…did I do something to make you upset? Why don't you want to talk?"

Wizard kept his face turned away from Molly, but if she'd have seen his expression, she would have instantly started fussing over him. He bit his bottom lip, trying to build up the courage for what he knew he had to do, and squeezed his eyes shut, willing them not to tear up.

"Leave," he said, making his voice even. Molly looked at him quizzically, and tipped her head to the side.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, looking at Finn, who sat on her shoulder and shrugged. Wizard spun around, his eyebrows knitted together, and for the first time Molly had ever seen, he was scowling.

"Are you deaf? I said, leave!" It was nearly impossible for Wizard to pump that much venom into his voice, but he did it, and it caused Molly to shrink back, eyes wide with confusion.

"What…what did I do?" she asked, her own face betraying the hurt she felt. "I don't understand-"

"That's right; you don't understand! How could a human understand? You're all the same; stupid, selfish creatures who only think of themselves!" The strange, silvery immortal tears welled up in his eyes again, but Molly didn't see them, all she saw was an uncharacteristically angry Wizard who was yelling insults at her.

"What's gotten into you!" Molly asked, retreating backwards down the stairs as Wizard took a few paces towards her. He hated seeing the confusion and pain in her eyes; he hated that he was hurting her like this. But it was what needed to be done. She was a human, after all. He was saving her from a greater pain in the future. But the charade was hard to keep up, and as they both descended down the stairs onto the first floor, Wizard feigning anger and Molly genuinely confused, his mask cracked, and his face momentarily betrayed how hard this was on him.

"I….I don't know…" he gasped, his face in his hands, he stood very still, trying to compose himself. Molly looked on, and then walked up to him, noticing that his robes were buttoned unevenly.

"I know you're having a hard time," she said, fixing the buttons so they were buttoned evenly. "I don't know what's going on, Wizard, but I want to help you. Just tell me what happened." Wizard was calmed as her fingers worked methodically to right the buttons, and he watched as she buttoned up the last one. "You're a mess," she mumbled, reaching up to brush more hair out of his face. "Your hair's all out of order." Her fingers felt nice, running through his hair, and he closed his eyes, wondering if, she ever chose to be with him, she'd do this often. He would have liked that.

'_There's nothing more useless than a Wizard who thinks himself a human,_' His Master's voice echoed in his mind as he let Molly straighten his hair out. '_What makes you think she'd want a monster like you? If you don't do it for yourself, do it for her. You'll only end up hurting her. She's too stupid to know any better._' He knew Molly wouldn't hurt him, but would he hurt Molly? _Could_ he hurt her. Sure, he _could _hurt her physically_,_ but he didn't want to. He couldn't get his Master's words to quit ringing in his ears. '_You'll only end up hurting her._' The last thing Wizard ever wanted to do was cause her pain, and if, to spare her from getting physically hurt by him, he had to hurt her emotionally, then so be it.

"Don't touch me!" he snarled, surprising even himself with the anger in his voice. He smacked Molly's hands away, and took a step back. "I told you to leave!"

"Not until I know what's going on!" Molly cried, matching him step for step and following him. "Something's wrong, Wizard and I want to help-"

"I DON'T need your help! Why would I need the help of some…some stupid, air-headed girl? I'm an all-powerful Wizard; what could you possibly do to help me? What makes you even think I need help!"

"Because I know you, and you wouldn't act this way if things were normal!" She reached out again for his hand, and what Wizard did next, he decided he'd never forgive himself for.

Molly stumbled back, knocking into the desk and falling to the ground, the crystal ball that had been sitting on the top rolling down and shattering into a million bits on the floor. Her hand flew up to her cheek where it had been hit, and her eyes were wide and glassy. She stared up at wizard with not anger, but fear in her eyes, her mouth hanging open in shock, revealing a mouth-full of blood from where she'd bitten the inside of her cheek. Wizard stood stock still, he arm still extended from where he'd back-handed her, eyes equally wide as he stared down at the girl he so desperately loved.

"You hit me," she whispered, tears spilling over her cheeks. Wizard had nothing to say, just continued to stare, and then, before he could stop her, she was out the door, and possibly out of his life completely.

'_It's for the best,_' he told himself, '_I would have hurt her even worse if she'd stayed. Master is never wrong. She would have grown to hate me._' But his words were unconvincing, and he couldn't stop thinking of the fearful look she'd given him as he cried himself to sleep that night.


	14. Chapter 14: Blue Flashbacks

**Just to clarify: Molly has not yet rung the Purple Bell. She hasn't even found the shrine yet.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen: Blue Flashbacks<strong>

Molly had never been the moping type. She was a woman, and had the capacity to become decently depressed, but she wasn't about to sit around her house doing nothing. For the past week she'd been down in the mines, smashing rocks until she couldn't feel her arms anymore. She'd found some pretty decent gems, too, but she wasn't in it for the jewelry. She needed to get her mind off of…well, she just needed to clear her mind out, and the only time when she could let her thoughts go blank was when she was mining. It was something about the dark coolness of the caves, but they really let her just go blank.

"We've never been up to the upper mine before," Finn pointed out as Molly strolled into the mine entrance that morning. She really wasn't talking much these days; she barely had much to say since the…incident with a certain white-haired someone, so she just nodded, deciding she'd poke around in the upper mine and see what she could find.

Climbing mine shafts felt weirder than going down them, but she was finding tons of topaz and rubies right and left. But it wasn't until she hit the forty ninth level did she really strike it big: there, in the smashed remnants of a boulder, she saw the glittering, shiny white stone.

"It's a diamond!" Finn squealed, as Molly picked it up and examined it. Yup, it was definitely a diamond, and the biggest she'd ever mined! Stowing it in her rucksack, she knew it would bring in a pretty penny once she shipped it. She was about to turn and walk all the way back down to the ground floor, seeing as it was nearing sunset, when Finn tugged on her shirt and pointed to a small opening in the wall at the far side of the cavern. "Look! There's light shining through, I think that's a door way!" Molly wasn't so sure, but after thirty seconds of intense whining, she was ready to do anything to get Finn to be quiet! And when she approached, she found that it really was a doorway, and it led out onto the top of the mountain!

The scenery up there was beautiful and snow capped, even though it was almost summer. Up one staircase was a big pedestal, for who knows what, and down another was a little hot springs. The whole mountain top was strewn with boulders and lichen.

"Wow! It's beautiful up here!" Finn exclaimed, flitting about, and though Molly said nothing, she nodded in agreement. It was breathtaking! It was a view even Wizard could enjoy…if Molly even cared what Wizard would have enjoyed. Which she didn't. Or at least, she told herself she didn't.

"C'mon," Molly sighed, speaking her first words all day, "I've got things to do. Let's go home."

"All you do is work!" Finn squeaked, putting his fists on his hips. "I want to stay and play up here!"

"Finn…" but just as Molly was about to snatch him out of the air and drag him back down to the ground, a bright blue feather floated down out of the sky. When Molly looked up, she was just able to see a blue bird, flitting about over their heads. The feather landed on her boots, and she stooped to pick it up.

She didn't know why she wanted it; she'd sworn of men for life. They'd only caused her nothing but trouble. Why would she need a blue feather to propose with? But as she dragged Finn home, she held the light little feather against her chest, and didn't let it go for the rest of the day. She even fell asleep holding it.

"If only I'd been more observant," she sighed to herself, once Finn had dozed off. "I could have seen what was wrong with him. None of this would have happened." Molly didn't realize it then, but at that moment, no matter what she told herself, she loved that Wizard more than ever.

* * *

><p>Wizard held the frame in his hands. It had been a while since he'd seen the picture; he'd hidden it away at the bottom of a big pad-locked trunk. But something made him want to dig it out, and now that he had it, he couldn't stop staring at the perfect faces on the piece of paper.<p>

The Man's face was strong and square, his wide grin stretched across his boxy jaw. His eyes squished as he smiled, and Wizard could just make out the sea-foam green tint to them in the faded photograph. The woman that stood by his side was beautiful; her long silvery hair trailed behind her in a meticulously wrapped braid, little strands falling around and framing her face nicely. Her face was round, like Wizard's, and her eyes were a soft honey color, just a shade away from amber. She wasn't smiling right at the camera, instead, she turned her gaze down to the three children who stood between her and the man.

The tallest and oldest of the children had his father's jaw and his mother's eyes. The second oldest was a girl, and almost as lovely as her mother. But the third child was the loveliest of the bunch; he was so like his mother in every way. His face was small and round, with one eye the color of a sunset, the other the color of the sea. His hair stood out among the children; he was the only of the three who possessed his mother' hair color, and the only of the three who inherited her kind, dreamy eyes. He did not smile, but instead looked up at his mother, eyes fixed to hers, as if she were the only person who mattered in the whole world.

Wizard didn't realize he'd started crying until a fat tear rolled down his nose and splattered on the frame, obscuring the picturesque family behind the glass. He wiped away the tear and continued to gaze at the family, _his_ family, until the sun went down. How long it had been since he'd seen them. Too long, in his opinion.

* * *

><p><em>The book the boy held in his hands was heavy, but he dared not drop it; it was a family heirloom, and his mother would have been sad to see it damaged. He curled his tiny fingers around it as he hoisted it up, and walked over to the table in the center of the room, setting it down gently and looking up at his mother for approval.<em>

"_Thank you, Gale," the woman said, patting his head and smiling. The opened the ancient book to the first page, and with the smoothest of handwriting, wrote down Gale's four letter name on the inside cover, alongside his mother's name, his grandfather's name, his great-aunt's name, and so on._

"_What are you doing, Mommy?" Gale asked, peeking up over the edge of the table to watch her print the loopy letters on the page in dark ink._

"_I'm setting your name to the paper," the woman answered, setting the quill down and showing him. "To commemorate your membership in this family."_

"_What about Kestrel and Faviana?" he asked, looking out the window to where his older siblings were playing. "Shouldn't you write their names, too?" The woman lifted him up to sit on her lap._

"_I'm not talking about our little family," she said, her voice just as soothing as honey. "I'm talking about our magical family; the long line of Witches and Wizards in our extended family." Gale looked up at his mother with wide eyes, and she chuckled. "You have much to learn. But I will teach you, my son. The job of a senior Witch or Wizard is to pass their knowledge onto their descendants. When you grow up and have children, if any of them have our magical abilities, you will be teaching them what I am about to teach you."_

"_What if I don't have children who are magical?" Gale asked, worry creeping into his voice. His mother smiled again, and nuzzled her cheek against the top of his head. _

"_Then you will teach your grandchildren. Do not worry, son. All Witches and Wizards have magical descendants."_

"_What if I married a Witch?" Gale asked. "Then I'd be guaranteed to have magical children."_

"_I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, sweetheart. All Magic Casters are related in some way. To have children with a witch could cause…complications. That is why our kind intersperse ourselves with humans; it guarantees the purity of our magic. But this isn't something you need to worry about. You are just a child."_

* * *

><p>The flashback had been so vivid, that when he finally snapped out of it, he was sent reeling, his breath completely knocked out of him. He hadn't remembered his past so vividly in so long, that it was honestly a shock. But what was more shocking than just remembering the conversation, was what his mother had said to him.<p>

For so long, the only thing Wizard ever remembered about his childhood was the harsh instruction from his Master, who had found him after the…fire. But now, with this memory, things were…changed.

"The purity of our magic," he mumbled to himself, standing and looking at his upturned hands. "My father…was a human. My Mother married a human, and that had been…normal. She'd told me it was normal." At that, he stood and went over to the trunk standing open in the middle of the room, and dug around until he found what he was looking for. The book was burned and crumbling, but most of the pages had managed to survive, and as he flipped the crumbling cover over, he teared up again, and traced a finger over the swirling handwriting adorning the page. A long line of names ran down the side of the page, but at the very end, right above his own name, was the name 'Calypso'. His mother's name.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I've let you down," he said, wiping his eyes. "I've done something awful, and I know you'd be ashamed of me. As if you're not already." He snapped the book shut and threw it back in the trunk, too upset to read it further. He was a disgrace to the family name. He was a disgrace to every name written in that book, and not for falling in love with a human. That had been the only thing he _hadn't_ done wrong. But the way he'd treated Molly, all because his Master had told him that it was wrong to love a human, that was what disgraced the memory of his ancestors, and most of all, his mother. But saying he was sorry wasn't going to fix anything. If he was going to restore any semblance of his honor, he was going to have to set all of this right.


	15. Chapter 15: Can't Fall Asleep

**The mood of the chapters lately has been rather…somber. As it should be, but I thought I'd make this chapter a bit more amusing. At least at the beginning. A little humor before the sad stuff sets back in! ^_^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: Can't Fall Asleep<strong>

With his crystal ball in shards, Wizard had to resort to more primitive methods of spying on Molly. He felt ten times creepier hiding behind the little water mill near her property than he had watching her through that crystal ball, but he had to do something. And the only way Wizard ever ended up successful was studying. And in this case, studying meant spying.

"That's a lot of coffee beans," he heard Finn say as the tiny sprite lead the way to the mill, Molly not far behind. As Wizard peeked around the corner, he could see her arms laden with sacks of coffee beans. "Where did you find them all? It's the middle of summer!"

"I'd put them in the tool box," she mumbled, her face partially crushed by the beans. "I guess I forgot about them last fall. It's good luck for us now, though." Both human and sprite filed into the mill, and Wizard stepped out of his hiding place. How in the world was he ever going to win Molly's trust back? She was so close, he could still hear her talking inside, and yet she was still so far away. This was nearly hopeless. Nearly.

'_I just have to think. What does Molly really love? If I get her something she really loves, maybe she'll forgive me._' This seemed like a good idea in Wizard's head, and he nodded to himself. But for the life of him, he couldn't think of anything that grand that would make Molly forgive him. '_Maybe a cow…? I know she likes animals…or maybe a black pearl from the water caves. She'd like that. Is she fond of jewelry?_' As he stood there pondering these things, he didn't hear Molly say from inside that she'd forgotten a few of the bags of coffee in the house, and he didn't hear her open the door and walk out of the mill. In fact, he was so engrossed in his own thoughts, he wasn't snapped out of it until Molly gasped, and was staring straight at him. '_Dammit! Too late!_'

"Uh…" was all he said, as he gaped at her. The shock didn't fade from Molly's eyes for a few moments, and when it did, Wizard was surprised to find that it wasn't anger that replaced it; it was pain. "Molly, I-"

"Don't," she said, cutting him off. She turned away, but didn't walk off; she was rooted to the spot. "Just don't. Haven't you done enough?" Wizard was silent, and she went on. "What are you even here for?" The question rang in the dry air, and hung around Wizard's head like a thick cloud of dust. He swallowed hard, and looked at his shoes.

"I came to say I'm sorry." He said it quietly, and Molly almost didn't catch it. But she did. And the prospect of making up with Wizard both excited her, and terrified her. She'd missed his company so much, she'd had to fight the urge these last couple of weeks to go and visit him. But she also knew that caving in and accepting his apology too quickly would damage her pride, not to mention…what if he did that again? And as if he could read her mind, which she was fairly certain he couldn't do without his crystal ball, he said: "I will never be able to forgive myself for what I did to you. My words and my actions were unacceptable, and I…I don't know how, but I hope you'll find it in your heart to…to accept that I'm not a perfect being. I have a lot to learn about humans and….love."

Molly had nothing to say to that. For once in her long, chatter-filled life, she was absolutely speechless. Her eyes burned with the urge to cry, and for the first time in maybe two weeks, she finally let the tears roll from her eyes. Wizard couldn't understand why she was crying, but then again, there was a lot about Molly he didn't understand. But he'd learn; he vowed he would learn to understand her, because he loved her. There was no denying it now, he may have never experienced love before, but it was unmistakable.

"I hate you!" Molly bawled, turning to Wizard, her eyes squeezed shut and her hands desperately trying to wipe the tears away. "I hate you for doing that to me! You have no idea how scared I was! I was so…s-so afraid you didn't…didn't want me….I hated that!" Molly didn't look up when Wizard's arms curled around her, didn't open her eyes as she rested against his chest. She just cried into the fabric of his robes, clutching at his arms, and thinking that she never wanted to be parted from him again.

"I'm so sorry," Wizard whispered into her hair, holding her close. He'd never been so close to a human before. Even though his heart was beating several times faster than normal, it was still keeping perfect time with Molly's. "I promise, I will never do anything to hurt you again. I would rather die, than make you suffer like you did."

* * *

><p>Molly never realized it, but Wizard's house smelled a lot like coffee. She should have guessed, since she was always bringing him some. But as walked in and was greeted by a wave of calming coffee smell, she wondered if he'd actually learned to brew it himself.<p>

"It's coffee from the inn," Wizard said, rather sheepishly. "It's nowhere near as good as yours." Molly looked back at him, her eyes still red from crying, but a smile now adorning her face. The house was warm, but it felt nice to be back. She missed having this familiar retreat to come to when she was stressed. Wizard couldn't take his eyes off of Molly as she tuttered around his house, tsking here and there and the clutter and disarray he'd let his house fall into.

"Honestly, Wizard, it looks like you were throwing things around for the fun of it. How did these books end up so far from the shelf?" She started to pick some tomes off the ground, but stopped when a picture frame slid off the top of one and landed on her foot. She picked it up, and while at first Wizard thought about stopping her, he decided there was no harm. Why should he be ashamed of what his family used to be. The only thing, though, that itched at the back of his mind, was the irrational fear that she might start to ask questions about his family; about where they were, and what had happened to them. And he wasn't sure if she really wanted to know what had happened to them. "Is this…you?" she asked, holding the picture up for him to see. She was pointing at the dreamy-eyed little boy with white hair and two different colored eyes.

"Yes," Wizard said, walking closer and taking the frame from her hand. She bent down to inspect it, and found that it wasn't a photo at all; it was a painting.

"It's so detailed," she said, "I could have sworn it was a photo."

"Before film, artists became quite good before being allowed to paint portraits. Nowadays, everything is about cameras and photos and instant gratification." He said this rather wearily, as if he longed for the times when this painting had been made, which Molly guessed was true. It was an old painting, and judging by their clothes, she could only guess it had been taken in maybe the middle ages?

"And, that's your mother," she said, pointing to the beautiful silver-haired lady. Wizard nodded, but said nothing. Calypso needed no introduction. Molly looked at the picture-perfect little family for a long time, and finally smiled. "I'm so grateful to your parents," she said, noticing the puzzlement in Wizard's eyes, "for bringing you into this world. I can't express enough gratitude."

They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to set straight the mess in Wizard's house, Molly complaining several times that it seemed as if a tornado has passed through, and when they were both sufficiently covered in dust, they collapsed on the floor, too tired and too hot to continue.

"It must be a hundred degrees today," Molly said, running her hands through her hair and pulling out dust bunnies. "How can you even stand to be in those thick robes, Wizard? They're made of wool, aren't they?"

"I never think about it," he said, though now that she brought it up, he realized that he was sweltering. Underneath the robe he was wearing a long-sleeve turtleneck. Before, he never ever even thought of how hot the summers on Castanet got, but now…

Molly blushed slightly as he pulled the purple robe over his head and flung it on the back of his desk chair, and then kicked off his boots. Wizard didn't really know anything was amiss, or that Molly was maybe just a tad bit too modest for her own good. They ended up chatting about little things (or rather, Molly chatted, Wizard listened) until the sun finally set, and the fireflies started dancing outside the windows.

"Is it that late already?" Molly asked, her eyebrows drooping. She was barefoot by this time as well, and the little camisole she wore over her T-shirt had been discarded. "I should really be getting home; Finn will be so worried about me." She stood and started gathering her things in her rucksack, when Wizard reached out and took her hand. Looking back, she couldn't what the emotion Wizard wore was, but it was something between fright and pleading.

"Molly," he started, but then seemed to lose his nerve, and looked at the ground. She was silent, waiting for him to go on. "I…I want you to stay here," he said, his multi-colored eyes looked at her from under heavy lids. "With me." Molly didn't quite understand him at first, and smiled.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she said, smiling. "And I'll bring you more coffee. But if I wait any longer to go, it'll be too dark to walk home."

"I meant stay here…for the night." Wizard's intents were not what one would have expected from a man who had just asked the object of his affections to stay the night, seeing as he was in no way insinuating that he wanted to do anything indecent. But he wasn't ready to let go of her just yet; with all the instability in his life as of late, he was afraid if she left now, h might wake up and find that this was all just a cruel nightmare.

"Wizard, you know I…I'm not that sort of…" she trailed off, tugging at the hum of her shirt. "I can't just let…I mean, I'm still a…you know…" Wizard was socially inept, sure, and he may have been completely new to being in love, but he knew what Molly was trying to say; he wasn't stupid.

"I have no intentions of taking advantage of you," he said, worried that he was just scarring her off more. "I just need someone there…nights are a…bad time for me." He was reluctant to admit that most night he was woken by nightmares, and the nights he wasn't were short and unrestful. Molly had always been under the assumption that Wizard liked coffee because he stayed up late at night looking at stars. But now she was beginning to get the idea that there was something else keeping Wizard from sleeping. She mentally wondered if Finn would be alright on his own, and then walked up to Wizard, taking his hand.

"Okay," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'll stay."

* * *

><p><em>Gale didn't care about the fire; it could burn him all it wanted. As he raced through the burning building, calling for his mother, he could just barely make out her voice, somewhere in what used to be the kitchen.<em>

"_Mommy!" Gale cried, trying to wade through the smoldering rubble as flaming pieces of the foundation fell down around him. "Mommy, where are you!"_

"_Gale," her voice was so soft, he barely heard it over the roar of the fire, but even so, he could still see her; her silvery hair was unmistakable. _

"_Mommy!" Racing over, Gale dropped to his knees, already numb from the burns, and attempted to pull his mother out from under the collapsed piece of ceiling she was trapped under. "Mommy, I'll save you!" His mother's expression betrayed no fear, and as she reached up to brush away ash from her son's cheek, she smiled that kind warm smile Gale would miss when she was gone._

"_Don't be afraid, sweetheart," she said, taking his hands in hers. "Even for Magic Casters, death always comes. It is part of life." Gale's eyes were watering up, and he squeezed Calypso's hands tighter._

"_No! I don't want you to die!" He was sobbing by then, getting ash in his eyes as he tried to wipe the tears away. "I don't want you to die!" Instead of replying with what little energy she had left, Gale's mother began to sing to him. It was in a language he was unfamiliar with, but it was beautiful none the less. The tune carried out of the building and wove it's way throughout the town, soothing the crying child. But the song went unfinished, as the last phrase broke off before the end, when his mother finally drew her last breath._

"_Mommy?" Gale whispered, touching her face. The tears sprang back up in his eyes, so like his mother's, and as he cried, he hummed the tune of the song to himself. When the villagers found the boy the next day, he was sitting in the middle of the charred wreckage of his house, still clasping his mother's hands and, curiously enough, had not a scratch on him._

"_He's a devil!" the townspeople called out, dragging him away from his dead mother._

"_He's in league with Lucifer! He's signed a blood-compact!"_

"_He's evil! Look at those eyes!" The outraged cries of the villagers scared the poor boy to death, and as they dragged him off, all he could do was cry._

"_Mommy! Mommy! Help me!"_

* * *

><p>"Wizard! Wizard, wake up!" Wizard straight up, his eyes flying open the dark room surrounded by bookshelves, relieved that he was no longer in that horrible nightmare. His limp hair hung in his face, and went he looked down at his arms, he could see marks from where his fingernails had dug into his skin.<p>

"Molly?" he said, almost panicked, until he realized that she was right beside him, her big brown eyes staring at him through the darkness. She would never know how thankful he was that she was there, and he reached out for her hand, and pulled her close.

"It's alright," Molly whispered, "it was only a dream. You're alright now." But if she only knew how real that dream had been. How terrifying it was, reliving a moment from your past. How could she have known how much it hurt, having all your mistakes thrown back in your face, every single night? But Molly didn't have to understand to know how to help. Running her hands through his hair, which always seemed to calm him down, they laid back down again, their arms around each other and his head on her chest.

"Will you…sing to me?" he asked. He'd never ever heard Molly sing, and had no reason to believe she was any good, but she could have been the most off-key singer on castanet, and he still would have asked her. Singing him reminded him of a happier time.

"I don't know very many songs," she warned, but after a moment of trying to dredge up lyrics from her sleep-addled mind, she started humming a simple, and oddly familiar tune.

* * *

><p>"Are you, are you<p>

My fish in the sea?

My Grass in the sun?

My baby to be?

Can you, can you

Dance with the moon?

Howl with the wolves?

Grow up so soon?

Will you, will you

Stand by my side?

Hold my hand tight?

Break with the tide?

And aren't you, aren't you

Strong as the sea?

Loud as the wind?

My baby be."

* * *

><p>Wizard had little time to wonder how she could have possibly known that tune, or have deciphered those words in an ancient tongue even he didn't fully understand, because he was drifting off to sleep before the song even ended.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16: Anecdotes

**Chapter Sixteen: Anecdotes**

Wizard liked his house. It was small and filled with books and that's where he kept his telescope and notebooks. He house smelled like coffee and there was a family of small brown bats that lived in the rafters that he liked to observe when he couldn't sleep. But he also liked Molly's house. Her house was quieter, since it was away from the hustle and bustle of Harmonica Town, and filled with all sorts of interesting human things.

"What's this?" Wizard had once asked, picking up a small bottle of pink liquid.

"That's perfume," Molly answered, not looking up from her cooking. "But I don't like it much. I don't know why I bought it."

"What does it do?" Wizard was largely unfamiliar with many human things, and even more unfamiliar with girl things. Molly gave him an incredulous look, before shaking her head.

"I can't believe you don't know. You spray it on, and it makes you smell good. Or at least, it's supposed to. That one doesn't smell very good." Wizard turned the little bottle over in his hands, and wondered how you made it work. It was sealed at the top, and he was just pondering how you made the liquid come out, when he accidentally pressed on the sprayer, and gave himself a face-full of perfume.

"Ugg!" he dropped the bottle and tried to wipe the perfume out of his eyes, which were tearing up, but was largely unsuccessful. The smell was over-poweringly sweet, and his eyes were burning like he'd just stuck his face in the smoke of a fire.

"Oh, honestly!" Molly pulled the pot of coffee off the stove and went over to inspect the damage, not really upset that the bottle had been smashed. She'd always hated that perfume. "You're hopeless, Wizard," she said, taking a dishrag from the kitchen and running it under the faucet. "How would you manage if I wasn't here?"

"Badly, I assume," Wizard said, surrendering and letting Molly attempt to wipe the sickly sweet perfume from his face. Once his eyes could open enough to see, he found that she wasn't mad at all, she was smiling up at him, and actually laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked, honestly puzzled.

"You," Molly said, rolling her eyes.

* * *

><p>But of course, Wizard wasn't always so clueless. He'd lived long enough to know what some human things were. He'd once been asked by Molly, who'd been covered in mud while working in her fields one day, to go in and find a towel so she could attempt to wring the mud out of her hair. At that point, he'd only been in her house a few times, and was like a fish out of water trying to locate anything in there.<p>

"Where could towels be?" he asked himself, reluctant to riffle through Molly's things and mess up what little semblance of organization she had to her house. He figured in the chest of drawers was the best guess at where they could be, and pulled open the top drawer. But instead of towels, he found something much different.

Wizard's face went bright red as he slammed the drawer shut, vowing that he would never ever open Molly's underwear drawer again.

(And if you're wondering, he eventually found towels in the cupboard over the stove)

* * *

><p>Bats had always been Wizard's favorite animal, even as a small boy. They were fascinating creatures, and they were always somewhat familiar to him. Not a bird, and not really a ground animal, bats were in their own category, much like him. They inhabited the sky with birds, but could never really assimilate with them.<p>

But Molly was fond of much more practical animals. She kept ducks for eggs, and cows for milk and butter, and even had a filly she was raising to ride. But she also had a number of pets; a little black cat named Bandit kept her barn free of mice, a collie named Chief to herd the cows when they started to roam. She also kept a sparrow in the coop, for no other reason besides the songs it would sing her. Molly was an animal person through and through, and that was something Wizard had a hard time understanding.

"He won't bite you," Molly had once said, right after she'd acquired Chief. "He's very well behaved, otherwise I wouldn't keep him." Wizard wasn't all that fond of big dogs, and Chief was a big dog. But Wizard tried, no one could deny that. He tried to get along with Chief. And to the dog's defense, Chief was never hostile towards Wizard. Wizard was just a bit too jumpy for his own good. If he was going to hang around animals, he'd much rather hang around the cows. At least they didn't move much.

* * *

><p>Wizard was painfully shy. The fact that barely anyone in town knew him was testament to that fact, but Molly had never been content to just let Wizard sit at home.<p>

"Come with me to the Starry Night Festival!" she'd pleaded one winter. "You like Stars, don't you?" Wizard couldn't argue with that; he'd spent the last ten years studying them. But he still didn't want to mingle. Over 10,00 years of seclusion and scorn wouldn't go away just like that.

"You go without me," he said, not meeting Molly's eyes. "I…I don't like the cold."

"The cold has never bothered you before," she said, taking him by the hand. "Please come with me? I won't have nearly as much fun without you." He absolutely hated the way she would bat her eyelashes at him, because he could never say no when she did. And so, that was how Wizard ended up all the way out in the middle of Flute Fields, the eyes of everyone at the festival trained on him.

"They're all staring," he whispered, eyes darting back and forth.

"No one's staring," she said, rolling her eyes. "And if they are, it's because they're jealous of how handsome you are." Wizard did appreciate how Molly always put a positive spin on everything, but sometimes, he would have liked to just mope. But as she towed him up Moon Hill, he had little chance to mope; the festival was starting, and the stars were just coming out.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Molly asked, referring to the Milky Way that stretched out above them across the sky. Her eyes were trained upwards, but Wizard couldn't stop staring at her face, and how the moonlight shined on her perfect brown eyes.

"Yes," he replied, not caring one bit how beautiful the Milky Way was. What he was looking at was ten times prettier. "Very Beautiful."


	17. Chapter 17: The Truth

**Chapter Seventeen: The Truth**

There were many truths about Wizard that had been proven false in the past two years.

Truth #1: Wizard never did anything without thinking it through. Molly had proven that one wrong many times over. Wizard was becoming increasingly reckless, and while it went against his nature completely, he never once regretted his recklessness. The only reason he acted that way was because of Molly.

Truth #2: Wizard was condemned to a life alone. Well, he didn't necessarily know if this one was true or false yet. At the moment, it seemed as if that was false, but Molly was slightly unpredictable. Not that he thought she would leave him without reason, but he knew he wasn't perfect. And he knew she deserved better than him. It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to imagine her running off with a human who would be able to provide for her better than he himself could. But he didn't like to think about that much.

Truth #3: Wizard lived religiously by the word of his Master. This one became false the moment he started remembering his childhood. Which wasn't exactly a good thing; it was terribly conflicting, finding out that everything you once believed is now incorrect.

Truth #4: Wizard did not understand anything about humans. This one was slowly becoming false, as he spent more and more time with Molly. She did a vast array of interesting things, and slowly but surely, he was learning about the antics of the average (or mostly average) human.

And finally, Truth #5: No one in town really knew who Wizard was, or that Wizard even lived on the Island. Unfortunately, this became false since Molly started dragging Wizard to Festivals and the circus and whatnot. Wizard would have been happy to stay anonymous, but he knew Molly was troubled by it, so he grudgingly put up with these social events. And oddly enough, after a few months, he even started to look forward to them.

Wizard was almost unrecognizable (mentally, not physically) since he'd met Molly. He was still nearly insufferably sarcastic, but he was less shy, (slightly) more talkative, and more willing to venture out into society than he used to be. And he sort of liked that. And for that, he was grateful to Molly. But what he owed Molly the most thanks for, was the discovery of human emotion.

Human emotion was simultaneously the most wonderful and most horrible thing he'd ever experienced. He had never felt such an intense happiness before, or such raw sadness and anger. He'd always been a cold, hard shell of a man; barely letting anything permeate his mind. But now, his highs were higher, and lows lower. Was this how all humans felt? It was wonderful, and terrible, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to go back to the way he once was.

* * *

><p>Molly smoothed her skirt in the mirror hung on her wall. It was her usual burgundy skirt; she saw no reason to dress up for the occasion. Wizard wasn't really the type to appreciate dressing up, since he usually wore the same robe anyway. But she had spent an ungodly amount of time on her hair that morning, making sure it was just right before leaving the house. She wanted this day to be perfect, since it would be one that she remembered for a long time.<p>

"Don't forget this!" Finn squeaked, holding the feather up and smiling. "You look great!" Molly smiled at Finn; over the two years she'd had to put up with him, she'd really grown to love the little sprite, and honestly, she wouldn't know what she would do without him. Taking the feather and kissing Finn's cheek, she took a few deep breaths before stepping out the door. The walk to Harmonica Town took longer than usual, (and not only because she had to go back twice to try and keep her cat, Bandit, from following her) but when she reached Wizard's house, she suddenly felt out of breath, as if she'd run all the way there.

"Um…Wizard?" she called, peeking into his house. The feather seemed as if it weighed a thousand tons in her pocket. Wizard smiled as she walked in, which only made Molly feel uneasier, and she couldn't figure out why.

"Good morning," he said, closing the book he'd been studying and turning his multicolored eyes to Molly. The distress was written very clearly across her face, but it was an odd sort of distress. He wasn't sure what was wrong.

"I, uh…" deciding it was best to just be blunt and not beat around the bush, Molly reached into her back pocket, only to find that the feather was gone. "Uh…oh, crap…" She checked her other pockets, just to make sure, but upon finding nothing, she had to come to the horrifying conclusion: she'd lost the blue feather. "Oh, no!" she moaned, holding her head in her hands. "This cannot be happening!"

"What's wrong?" Wizard asked, watching Molly with a look of uncertainty.

"Oh, this is all wrong!" she said, looking up at him. "This was supposed to be perfect, and now I've ruined it!" Wizard still had no idea what Molly was talking about, but he wasn't blind; he could see that whatever it was, it was upsetting Molly a lot. So standing up, he stepped forward pulled her close, her eyebrows knitting together.

"It's alright," he said, "Whatever it is, we'll sort it out. What happened?"

"It'll take me weeks to find another one!" came her muffled reply, her face pressed into his shoulder. "I'm such a failure. Why would you ever want to marry someone who screws up so badly?" At this Wizard froze. Her voice was muffled, but he was sure he'd heard her right. Hadn't he?

"Did you just say…marry?" he asked, his tone guarded. Molly instantly went stiff, and then looked up, her face surprisingly wearing a scowl.

"Well, that's just great!" she said, "Now I've ruined the surprise! I might as well just tell you what I'm getting you for your Christmas, too!" Molly was caught up on ranting about screwing her proposal up, but Wizard was still marred on the word 'Marry'. And just like that, he was able to piece together what must have been Molly's plan.

"Wait, you were going to propose?" he said incredulously. Molly's scowl didn't lift, but she nodded, looking angry and miserable. This had not gone as she'd planned. Wizard was quiet for a minute, and then he smiled, and then he did something very odd. He laughed.

Had this not been the first time Molly had ever heard him laugh, she would have been miffed that he was laughing. But as it were she just stood, and listened as he laughed. It was short-lived and quiet, but it had a slightly musical tone to it, as if it were more like a song than an involuntary noise. It was beautiful, and somehow bitter at the same time. It was a laugh only someone who had lived as long and had seen as much as Wizard could laugh. And Molly liked it.

"Why are you laughing?"she asked, more curious than anything. Wizard shook his head and took her hand in his, and kissed it.

"Because I…I can't imagine why someone like you would want to marry someone like me. It's a laughable notion."

"Why is it laughable?"

"Because, I've spent my entire existence completely separate from human emotions. It's just hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that…that someone could love me. That you could love me."

Another thing that Wizard had only recently been accustomed to was touching. He had lived his life without any physical contact, besides maybe getting smacked by his Master, or when he spent too much time with the Witch, who thought it was hilarious to invade his personal bubble. In the odd flashbacks he was getting with greater frequency recently, he remembered being hugged and carried and kissed by his Mother, but couldn't really remember what any of that felt like. And after a while of that kind of physical isolation, touching people just becomes unbearably uncomfortable. But with Molly, it was easier, more natural. As if a light that had been switched off for so long was now only just switched back on. And as if automatically, he arms wrapped around her, almost protectively, and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Well, I keep telling you I love you," Molly said, her dry, sarcastic tone reappearing. "It's not my fault you never listen."

"I suppose I just never believed you." He replied, shutting his eyes. "I guess I thought you might be taking pity on me…or something."

"That's dumb."

"I know."

* * *

><p>It was weird. Was that the right word? Weird? Maybe. But not bad weird. Good weird. More like, unfamiliar. That's what Wizard would have called it. Molly knew she and Wizard were technically vowed to each other, but it was just unfamiliar, waking up and finding him sleeping next to her. Well, that part wasn't all that unfamiliar. But knowing that he was definitively, without a doubt, undeniably <em>hers<em>, now that was unfamiliar. I mean, Wizard was at least a millennium old, he'd had hundreds of years to find someone, anyone he wanted, and out of all the people in the world, over the course of all those years, he'd chosen her? Was that even possible? How had plain little Molly caught the eye of a Wizard? THE Wizard?

'_It's Gale now,_' she thought to herself as she closed the shutters for the night. Already a week since he'd told her his real name, and she hadn't yet gotten used to it. But he didn't seem to mind it when she called him Wizard. He didn't even seem to notice.

Another _unfamiliar_ thing was having to explain to her friends and neighbors what the ring on her finger was. A brilliant blue (coincidentally, both hers and Gale's favorite color) she'd probably had to explain twenty times that she was now married. Or vowed to. Or something. Molly was still a little unsure of what happened at the church that night.

"You work too hard," Gale said, noticing how stiff Molly seemed as she finished cleaning up the house.

"Well, it's the spring harvest," she replied, her voice betraying her exhaustion. "I can't slack off now. The barn still needs to be upgraded, and if I ever hope to have enough money, I've got to make sure the crops come in on time."

Gale had his share of unfamiliarity, as well. He was unfamiliar with sleeping anywhere but his own home. He was unfamiliar with Molly's work schedule (which included getting up at an ungodly hour to hoe and rake and harvest crops) But most of all, he was unfamiliar with how much work Molly put into her little farm. He'd never before realized how tired she was everyday from weeding and planting and watering. It was worrisome.

"You need more sleep." He said as she flopped down on the bed.

"Tell that to the work schedule," she sighed, kicking her boots off. "The days are too long. The nights are too short."

"I could fix that for you," Gale offered. "I know a spell that would halt time."

"That's sweet of you to offer, but I know how much that would disrupt the other people on the island. They need daytime, too."

"I could halt them as well. It would just be you and me. And Bandit; the spell doesn't work on cats."

"Why not?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Gale slid into bed next to Molly. The sheets were cold, a stark contrast to Molly's sunburn skin, which seemed to radiate heat as she cuddled up next to him.

"I'm sure bandit would like that," she yawned, "all those mice would be powerless to run away." Her sentence trailed off at the end, and before her thought was finished, she had dozed off.

"Good night," Gale whispered, and kissed her forehead.


	18. Chapter 18: Seriously

**So, I had a chapter 18 posted previously, but, I thought it just moved too fast through the plot. So I removed it and I'm rewriting it all into something like two or three extended chapters.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eighteen: Seriously<strong>

"You've got to be joking me," Molly said, completely confident that Jin was pulling a fast one on her. There was no way he was serious. Not one iota of her being believed that he was being serious. She HOPED he wasn't being serious.

"I am completely serious," Jin said, looking down at the clipboard in his hands. "I have no reason to lie to you. The results came back positive." And as if he knew what she was thinking, he showed her the clipboard, just to prove he was serious. Molly just stared at the paper containing the last of her sanity, open mouthed and disbelieving.

"But…I…I'm only 20!" she said, throwing the sheet back and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "I'm WAY too young for this kind of thing! Only OLD people get this…this…condition!"

"I beg to differ," Jin said, pushing his glasses up onto his nose. "And I would hardly call this a 'condition'." Molly laced up her boots rather angrily, pulling just a little too tightly and cutting off the circulation to her feet slightly.

"I…I'm….oh, I can't even say it!" Molly was more unbelieving than anything else. "How could this have happened?" Jin just raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, I guess I know how, but…Wizard's immortal, I didn't think that he…could give me….this….thing! What am I supposed to do with it now! I can't stay this way!"

"Well, if you're so upset by it, there are several…methods…by which this 'condition' can be 'treated', if that is what you wish." Molly hated how formal and cold Jin was when giving such grim news. But none the less, Molly had to really consider: it wasn't an ideal situation. How was a 20 year old supposed to handle this sort of condition? She was too young for this! But…was she really willing to go through with the 'treatment' for it? The side effects, both mental and physical were terrible to think about. Would it be easier just to live with it?

"I…I've got to think on it." She said finally, making her way toward the door.

"Alright, but think quickly," he called after her. "There is only so much time that we have to treat this. After too long, it will be irreversible."

The clammy, muggy air hung around Molly like a big wet blanket as she walked home, face halfway between panic and misery. What was she going to do about this? She was too young to know how to deal with it! And then there was Gale to think about; how was he going to take this? He wasn't exactly an open book with his feelings, and Molly had no way of even guessing at his reaction. What if he was angry? Or disappointed?

The house was quiet as she walked in, and thinking that Gale must have retreated to his house to leaf through those huge books he studied from, she flopped down at the kitchen table and rested her head in her hands.

"You're pale." Molly jumped when Gale spoke, seemingly slinking out of the shadows. He fixed her with a questioning stare, but Molly tried her best to wave it off, and attempted to hide her surprise at finding him here.

"I'm just tired." She laughed, though it was a forced and humorless laugh. She was just thankful Gale didn't have his crystal ball anymore; it would totally throw her charade if could just read her mind. But it didn't seem as if Gale was buying it.

"No, I mean you seem paler than you usually do. And you're sunburnt. It's hard to look pale when you're sunburnt." He walked over and touched her forehead. "And you're clammy. Have you caught something?"

"…You could say that." She said, looking at her hands. Gale sat beside her at the table, and held one of her hands in both of his.

"You shouldn't be working so hard. It's not good for you; it's making you sick."

"It seems as if work is the only thing these days NOT making me sick," she moaned, pressing her palms to her eyelids. "I just need more sleep, like you said."

"Something isn't right," he stood abruptly, and pulled Molly to her feet as well. "Why were you just at the clinic, if not to diagnose some illness?" How could he have known where I was, Molly thought, but she pushed that inquiry to the back of her mind for the moment.

"I was buying some of that 'Awake' stuff, since I'm so tired all the time. I'm fine, alright?" But as if the universe was intent on making Molly wrong, at that moment, her knees decided to give way, and she stumbled to the ground, holding her head as the world spun around her.

"You call this fine?" Gale asked, pressing his cool hands to her forehead. "Because to us immortals, this is sick."

"I'm not sick, okay? I'm just dizzy. Is it a crime to be dizzy?"

"It's a crime to deny an ill woman medical attention." Molly's world was further lurched out of focus as Gale hoisted her up into his arms.

"I'm not sick!" she insisted, trying in vain to wiggle free.

"Then what are you?" He was really getting on Molly's nerves with this, and intent on him just leaving her alone, she blurted out the only thing that she knew would stop him in his tracks.

"I'm pregnant!"

Unfortunately for Molly, this did the opposite of shut Gale up. Sure he was quiet for a little while, just looking at her. His expression swung from confused, to incredulous, to surprised to completely blank, all within the span of a second or two. And then his words came almost too quick for Molly to decipher.

"When did you find out? How long as it been since you've missed your period? Did you ask Jin? Was that why you were at the clinic? You're sure you're pregnant, right? This isn't a false alarm? When were you going to tell me? Why didn't you want to tell me?"

"In that order," Molly said, holding her head to attempt to keep the world from spinning, "Just now, maybe six weeks, yes, yes, I'm positive, yes, I don't know, and why does it matter?" She didn't know what had brought on the sudden headache, probably just the stress the situation inflicted, but Gale's barrage of questions wasn't helping.

"Well, it matters because…why wouldn't it?" Gale sunk down into a chair, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "This is…monumentous. You're pregnant; don't you know what that means?" His expression was still rather blank, and Molly didn't have a hope for deciphering it.

"I know exactly what that means," she said, sitting down herself and staring at her fingernails. "And I'm gonna handle it, okay? You don't need to lose any sleep over it, you only get a few hours as it is." Now, Gale knew a lot about babies. It was inevitable, seeing as he'd been around for so long, and read so many books. How could one not wonder about babies, when one lived in a world full of them. But even with his vast second-hand knowledge of babies and pregnancy, he still didn't have the slightest clue what Molly was insinuating.

"…Of course I have to worry about it." He said, raising an eyebrow. "It's not just your baby. It's mine too." And that got Molly confused.

"Wait, are we talking about the same thing?" she asked, wondering if Gale was actually as smart and perceptive as she imagined him to be. "Because I get the distinct feeling that we're not."

"We're talking about the baby…aren't we? What else could we be talking about?"

"Well, yes, but…wait, you're not upset? At all?" Molly had a hard time believing that Gale wasn't the least bit bothered by this. But then it hit her; he was hundreds of years older than her. It came as a shock to her because she was so young, but to Gale, it must not have seemed like such a bit deal, age-wise. It wasn't like he was some teenager, barely able to care for himself like she was.

"Why would I be upset? I'm nervous for you, yes, but upset? I may not be familiar with some human customs, but isn't the conception of a baby a good thing?" Gale had always had a hard time reading Molly's expressions. She wasn't making it easy on him.

"I guess…I just thought that….I mean, we just got married. Are we ready for children?" She looked up at her husband, her eyes searching his for some clue that he understood what she was trying to say. But Gale continued to stare back, completely oblivious.

"That question is irrelevant now." He said, eyebrows furrowing. "The baby is already growing. We cannot just…" but the look Molly gave him told him that they _could_ just decide that it wasn't the right time, that they weren't ready, however gruesome that was. Molly looked back down at the floorboards, her head pounding.

"Jin said that there were…ways that we could…if we weren't ready." She didn't have to look up to know that Gale was staring at her as if she were something the cat dragged in. In a flurry of motion, he stood from his chair, knocking it over, and began pacing around the room at a furious pace.

"That horrid, low-life, under-licensed, callous…how dare he say that to you!" he said, and for the first time in…ever, Gale's voice rose above his normal talking tone. It was interesting to listen to him shout, and Molly made a mental note to remember how it sounded, seeing as she'd probably never hear that sound again. "When I'm through with him, he'll be waking up a hundred miles of the coast, with cement shoes at the bottom of the ocean! He'll-"

"Gale, it wasn't-" Molly tried to interrupt, but he would have none of that.

"To think he'd so willingly put your life in danger, not to mention our baby! I can't believe it!"

"Gale, just listen to me! It wasn't his suggestion!" Gale turned his gaze to Molly, still trying to form semi-coherent sentences and half-way through a particularly horrible description of the spell he planned to use. "It wasn't his idea. It was mine." She felt lower than a toad's belly as she admitted it, admitted that she'd thought about it, considered it, told Jin she'd think about it. And Gale couldn't even begin to comprehend why she would want to be rid of this little miracle. He'd never met the baby, never seen the baby, didn't even know if it was a boy or a girl or if it would survive the pregnancy, but already he knew it was special. Special because it was his and Molly's child; they'd created it together, and would forever be a testament to how much he loved her. And to think she wanted to destroy it? If she had a good reason to feel this way, Gale couldn't find one.

"Why?" he asked simply, gaping at his wife as she buried her head in her arms.

"Don't look at me like that!" she said, voice muffled. "You have no idea how I feel! How horrible I feel for thinking this way! I can't help it if I'm still just a kid!"

"Then _tell_ me. I want to know why."

"Gale! Open your eyes!" She stood a little too quickly and lost her balance, and had to lean on the table. "Look at me! I'm too young to have a baby! Too immature! I hardly get three hours of sleep at night and I can barely keep food on the table! Are we in any position to have a baby?"

"That doesn't matter-"

"Yes it does! I want our baby to have the best! I want him to wake up and not have to worry if his mom is too exhausted to work that day, or if there will be breakfast on the table, or if he won't be able to go to school because the harvest needs to be brought in! I want him to feel safe with us; how can we make that type of environment when I can't even turn a profit?" Tears streaked down the side of her face as she said this, her voice rising steadily until she was practically shouting. "I don't want to be a bad parent, and I have no idea what to do! I'm just scared, okay? Don't judge me for being scared!" And with that, the last of her will to keep from crying drained, and she sank to her knees, bawling like there was no tomorrow. "W-what are we g-gonna d-do? I'm so scared!"

Gale stood and listened to every word that his wife was saying, and watched helplessly as she broke down. What kind of man was he to do this to her? Was anything _not_ his fault anymore?

"Molly, I know you're scared," he said, sinking to the floor beside her and pulling her over to rest against his chest. "But you don't have to be. I would never let a child feel hunger or pain or exhaustion, especially not out own. I would never let that happen."

"How d-do you know?" Molly said, looking up at him.

"You're afraid of being a bad Mother, and of not being able to provide for this baby," he said, brushing her hair out of her face. "But you've already proved that you care more about the welfare of the baby then about yourself. When I look at you, I see someone who would care for this baby better than my Mother cared for me," he smirked slightly, "and my Mother was an excellent Mother." Molly smirked back at him, but her eyes would not dry.

"I'm so uncertain." She said, running a hand under one eye. Gale bent to kiss her forehead, pressing his cool lips to her clammy skin.

"I'm not."


	19. Chapter 19: Only Slightly Pregnant

**Gaaaaah I'm so tired!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Nineteen: Only Slightly Pregnant<strong>

Molly was so uncomfortable. The feeling of carrying around a bloated sack of baby around your hips was awful, and she was almost constantly nauseous. "I can't wait until this thing is born," she would say to Gale, frowning down at the lump forming on her stomach.

"That _thing_ is a baby," Gale would always remind her. "Our baby."

"Yeah, well, _our_ baby is making me miserable!" Molly was many things; blunt just so happened to be one of those things. It did discourage Gale that she was so unexcited about the baby. Why couldn't she just see things his way? Why did she insist on being so damn stubborn?

"I can't see why. You're carrying the most wonderful thing in the world." It always went like this. He always used that line on her. Why was he so happy all the time? Couldn't he be miserable with her? Or at the very least, let her be miserable without trying to inject her with all this sugary sweetness?

"I wish you'd stop that," she replied, crossing her arms. "All that crap about 'our baby is wonderful, a gift from heaven.'"

"I'm sorry you're so upset by this." He stood and wrapped his arms around her. "If I could I'd carry the baby for you."

"Ug, you're making me sick!" He smiled slightly at this, until Molly pushed him away and rushed out the door, and he realized she really was sick. 'Damn nausea' he thought, following her and holding her hair back as she retched. This was one part of the pregnancy he wished Molly didn't have to go through. Morning sickness had to be the worst.

Small bursts of memory were continually coming back to Gale, usually triggered by something that reminded him of his childhood. He could vaguely remember being sick as a child, and having his mother care for him until he was better. Wizard wasn't human, and therefore rarely succumbed to human illnesses, but when he did, it was terrible. And at this, he felt an instant pang of guilt. Why would he ever want to subject Molly to this? She was constantly throwing up, her moods were never stable anymore, she was so weak, she could barely walk to town without collapsing, and she was constantly stressed out over the baby. And he caused all of that?

* * *

><p>Gale hated the Witch. He hated her more than he hated the Master, which was a lot of hate. He hated her. But he needed her advice. She was the only female he knew enough to ask this sort of question.<p>

"Well well well, I see you've finally come crawling back to me, just as I expected." The Witch's smile curled across her face like a spider unfurls it's legs across a web. Gale stood rigidly in the doorway, glaring at the tiny woman through narrowed eyes.

"So it would seem," he said, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch, Wizzy. No need to look so angry. You know I harbor no ill will towards you!" Gale was not convinced of her sugar-coated words, and had to resist the urge to turn right around and go home. "Well, fine then. What's your problem? I assume you need to ask a question; it's clear from the look on your face that you openly despise me. So spill: what's troubling you?" She sat down on a winged armchair in the corner of her house, lacing her fingers together under her chin and grinning.

"I need to borrow your crystal ball," he said, eyes darting to the little pink crystal sitting on a table not far away.

"Oh? And what happened to yours? Not like I don't already know!" Her laugh was high-pitched and annoying, and Gale's scowl deepened. "Well, in any case, no."

"No? What do you mean, no?"

"What do you think?" Witch held her hand out to admire her manicure and rolled her eyes. "My crystal ball was a present from my mother, I'm not gonna just hand it away to you for nothing! I want something in return."

"Alright, fine. What do you want?" Gale was expecting her to say a hundred Fugue Mushrooms or something, which would be hard to obtain, but completely possible. But Witch had something very different in mind.

"I want your telescope." Her smile was positively wicked, and she cackled when Gale's face paled.

"You…you aren't even interested in astrology," he stuttered, looking at her incredulously. "Why do you want that?"

"So you don't have it, of course!" But by then, he'd had enough, and turned on his heel to leave.

"I don't need your stupid crystal," he muttered as he slammed the door behind him, and he could hear Witch cackling as he stomped away from her hut in the forest. So what if he could no longer read Molly's mind; he'd just have to find things out about her the old fashioned way. But the problem was; how did you ask how a person felt about the baby they were carrying, when you'd basically forced them to keep it?

The walk home was gray and dreary, and that had nothing to do with the fact that the sky was covered in clouds. Gale knew his wife would be home, she barely left anymore. She really didn't seem to happy anymore, and he didn't need a crystal ball to know why. And as much as he wanted to know Molly's honest opinion…he also didn't want to know. Part of him wanted to keep on pretending that she would warm up to the idea of having a baby, and continue to think positively about the pregnancy. But the other part of him knew that was impossible.

He approached the door, only to hear Molly, seeming speaking to herself on the other side. Not wanting to starle her, and simultaneously wanting to know who she was talking to, Gale stood outside, his ear pressed against the door, straining to pick up what she was saying.

"…he's as stubborn as they come, and he'll never admit it. But I guess I am too. We must be a perfect match" Gale didn't hear a reply, and thought that maybe she was on the phone. Figuring she wouldn't notice if he peeked in, he inched open the door and peered into the front room. It was dark inside, but he could see Molly standing by the window, hands resting on the three-month old bulge on her stomach.

"I think you'll really like him though. I do, unfortunately. He's just loveable enough not to make me want to throttle him."

'_Who in the world is she talking to? The cat? The dog?'_ Gale thought. It didn't hit him until Molly turned her gaze down to her belly, and smiled a crooked smile.

"You really are taking your time, huh? Intent on making me suffer as long as possible. Jeez, you already remind me of my mother." She rolled her eyes at herself. "But that's fine. If you're going to be this difficult when you're born, I guess it doesn't matter if you stay in there or not. Just don't take too long, okay?" Gale shut the door then, and leaned his back against it. He couldn't believe it. Molly had had him fooled. She'd been talking to the baby. She loved that baby, even if she didn't want to admit it. And through the door, he was just able to hear: "I know Gale's really anxious to meet you. And so am I."


	20. Chapter 20: The Baby Swan

**Chapter 20: The Baby Swan**

"Gale!"

If he hadn't heard Molly's cry, he probably would have heard her hitting the ground and come running anyway. He wasn't far away; Molly had insisted on feeding the barn animals herself, and Gale had stupidly let her do so. He'd been pacing in the front room when it had happened. It took almost no time at all for Gale to fly out the front door and skid into the barn, barely able to stop himself before running into Chickadee, Molly's elderly, cranky cow.

"What happened?" he asked, helping Molly to her feet, only to have her collapse against her chest. One hand held onto the lapels of his robe, the other was wrapped around her belly, fairly big but nowhere near as big as it should have been.

"The baby," she gasped, eyes fearful as she looked up at him. "It's only been seven months but…I-I think it's coming!" Gale knew that human gestation took nine months, he knew it was still too early for the baby to be born, he knew something must have been wrong. He hoisted his trembling wife up into his arms and carried her all the way up to Harmonica Town. Jin wasn't in that day, but Gale knew Irene was more than capable of taking care of Molly…or at least, he hoped she was.

"Don't leave," Molly choked out, fingers laced in between his as he laid her down on the hospital bed indicated by Irene. He nodded silently, watching as Irene examined Molly's belly, a grim expression on her face.

Irene had known this pregnancy wouldn't go well. She'd been worried about this girl since her first check-up. Always too small, always too weak. She had so little energy to spend, and she used it all on working in the fields. This would not be a healthy baby.

"If you insist on hovering," Irene snapped, not in a way that was different than the way she usually snapped, "then make yourself useful and bring me a warm washcloth and more blankets. Molly's not going to warm up without blankets. Gale hadn't noticed it before, but Molly's skin was incredibly cold. Even colder than his skin, which averaged maybe ten or twelve degrees cooler than the average human. He nodded again, and left to find the items, while Irene continued to try and make Molly more comfortable. "This baby is early."

"It's going to be alright, though….right?" Molly whispered, panic-stricken eyes turning to the old nurse. Irene was unsure of the baby's future at the moment, but saw no reason to stress the poor girl further.

"Of course it will. Every baby I've ever delivered has been as healthy as a horse. This one will be no different." Molly relaxed slightly when Gale returned, and let herself be fussed over as the contractions got worse and worse.

"I'm sorry, Molly," Gale kept repeating, holding her clammy hand in his. "I'm so sorry." This was slightly infuriating to Molly, seeing as Gale had done nothing. It was most likely her own fault for working too hard on the farm while pregnant.

"Just be quiet," she told him through gritted teeth, "and give me your other hand!" He willingly surrendered his hand to her, which she took and nearly strangled as another contraction caused her to squeak in pain. Irene shook her head and stood.

"It's time. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait outside," she told Gale, who looked suddenly paler than usual. Molly had no intention of letting him go, but slightly afraid that Irene's gaze might burn holes in him, and also slightly afraid he might get in the way and endanger the baby, he untangled is hand from his wife's grasp and backed towards the door.

"No!" Molly cried, reaching out for him, and then curling her arms around her belly as her contractions worsened. "Stay here!"

"You quiet down," Irene commanded, eyebrows pushing together. "He'll be back, don't worry." Gale left the room, and Irene pushed Molly's bangs back and out of her face.

Gale couldn't help but pace. It was automatic, he did it often. He paced all around the waiting room, straining to hear anything coming from inside. Anything. But there was nothing but silence, and that killed him.

'_Something's wrong,_' he thought, rubbing his temples. '_something's really wrong. The baby shouldn't be coming this early. We've still got two more months. Something is seriously wrong here._' Gale couldn't help but think this must be his fault. He let Molly out too many times to work in the field, she should have been on bed-rest the entire time! She worked too hard for someone carrying his child. '_What if the baby isn't normal? What if Molly's hurt? What if the baby doesn't make it? What if Molly doesn't make it! What if-_'

The single, shrill note pierced the air like a dart, and for a split second, Gale thought he might e close to collapsing. For that one moment, he was almost sure it was Molly screaming. But when he came to his senses, he realized Molly couldn't make a noise that high-pitched. That sound could only be coming from one thing.

Irene opened the door to the waiting room, a look of astonishment and relief on her face. "You'd better come in and see your new son," she said, smiling up at Gale. He didn't move for a moment, and then went on numb feet through the door.

Molly looked even tinier and weaker than she usually did. Her face was wet with sweat, and strands of scraggly hair hung in her face. But as she smiled down at the bundle in her arms, Gale knew that nothing had gone wrong. The baby was fine. But for some reason, he was reluctant to draw near.

"Well?" Molly said, her voice raspy and raw. "Don't you want to come and see him?" Gale hesitated slightly, but moved forward to stand by Molly's side, and peered down into the tiny baby face attached to the tiny baby. His face was pink and chubby, a shade somewhere in between his and Molly's complexion. His face was relaxed and calm, as if sleeping, but as soon as Gale looked down at him, two big, sea-foam green eyes stared up at him, as if the baby already knew that Gale was his father.

"Oh," was all Gale was able to say. Molly looked from her husband to son happily, not able to decide who to kiss first. She chose the baby. "He's beautiful," Gale said, reaching down to touch the boy's cheek.

"He'd better be," Molly said, "for all the work I put into having him. But look…he's got your eyes."

"Eye," Gale corrected her, and they both smiled. Irene had been watching from a few feet away, and suddenly chimed in.

"What will you name him?" she wondered out loud. Molly was too preoccupied in her new son's beauty to care about a name; she could call him beloved baby for his whole life and she would have found that perfectly fine. But Gale had been thinking about a name for a while now, and thought he had the perfect one picked out.

"What about Cygnus?" he asked, watching as the baby lifted one tiny hand to touch Molly's face. Molly cast a questioning glance at her husband.

"Is that a constellation?" she asked, to which Gale nodded a yes. "Which one is it?"

"The swan," he replied. Molly looked thoughtful for a moment, and then beamed up at him.

"I think that's perfect. Our baby swan, Cygnus."


End file.
